Day 6 - Flukey winds and raw bonito
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 26 Nov 2010 16:08
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20:03.29N
021:23.12W
After tying down our bonnets and getting used to
fast downwind sailing at up to 8 knots, we're now becoming acclimatised to slow
upwind sailing again. Summer Song is making 3 to 5 knots towards the westernmost
of the Cape Verdes, Santo Antao in light northwesterlies. Alex seemed to have
the best watch of the night, fizzing along at 6 knots, which had the water
singing past the hull next to my ear as I slept. Then Graham took over and saw
the wind dive, and the sails start thrashing about.
My watch was a stop start stop-start routine,
veering between less than two knots and more than 5. We got into another huge
sounding fish at dawn, but he shook the hook loose. We're expecting great things
around sunset.
We're making progress, though, and it's not hard
work. It's good fun loafing about chatting and planning meals. Our 8kg Ocean
Bonito provided a serious treat in the way of raw meat with lime juice, and then
produced a huge and excellent feast of grilled fillets. We've only got through
half the fish, though, so we're going to do steaks in the pan
tonight.
We've also had time to swim with dolphins, which
were playing around the bow in their dozens. Occasionally a group would roar
away from the boat, leaping clear of the water and flying 5 metres through the
air. Others had a bizarre head-flop technique. There were babies as well. We
took about 60 photos, which will no doubt all look like empty sea when they're
printed.
Graham's excellent work on securing the fruit nets
has paid off handsomely. There have been no 'larder malfunctions' since the caci
did their juicing thing on day two. We're racing through the fresh stuff, but,
because of the fish, we've barely started the first of our official tinned
rations. Perhaps just as well in view of the pace we're making.
Readers at home should not be alarmed about our
calls for weather info. These light winds are testing conditions and we know
people to the west of us are plugging into 25 knots plus on the nose. Any extra
analysis of weather and routing is helpful. However, we get an ARC forecast and
computerised grib files which help us make our decisions too. We're expecting to
run close by the Cape Verdes and carry on south until we can pick up trades in
14 or 15N. Though we've run the donk for an hour to charge batteries, we've
avoided engaging the drive., at least for now...
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