Sunday 29th Nov
Pelican
Darryl and Anne Saxton
Sun 29 Nov 2009 14:42
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We are at last heading more or less
west.
We had to come long way soiuth to get the right
wind angle but at present we have it and so are leaving cape verde islands
behind and starting to cross the atlantic proper.
Our problem is that we dont want to use the
cruising chute - it really is very big and a handful in anything but light airs.
At the present the wind is too strong for it. We dont have a pole to hold out
the genoa so running directly downwind is not really an option for us. So we
have had to come down and then gybe over to get a better course.
Lots of flying fish careering all over the place
and a few landed on deck which we will eat ( the bigger ones anyway). This is a
welcome addition to the diet as we have had to ditch our roast beef joint as it
was green this morning - along with out gammon steaks. We had had these vacuum
packed for us in the canaries so we thougth they would be ok for a week in the
fridge but it is rather hot here - probably 90 degrees !!
The dolphins came to give us another acrobatic
display this morning. Just for ten minutes then they were on ther
way.
I expet they have a lot of boats to get to in thier
busy schedule.
We also saw a turtle this afternoon - just
lazily swimming east on the surface.
Yesterday we had an early morning meeting with
another ARC yacht - Su An, after 800 miles we passed about 100 meters
apart.
They started the day after us but have good
downwind sails so can sail a much more direct course.
Crew are all happy and healthy and we are having
lots of laughs. Just need to sail for another couple of weeks like today and we
will be there.
We will just have to see how the wind
holds.
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