Day 12 - of flukes and fins
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Thu 2 Dec 2010 15:47
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The flukey part of proceedings has proven to be the
wind... again. After a blistering night, screaming along in a moonless seascape
at about 6 knots under the spinnaker, we've been deserted by our winds since the
early morning. We're once again wallowing along at 2.5 knots, making my
predictions of landfall in St Lucia 'inside a fortnight' look like senseless
hyperbole. Nonetheless, the trades are still forecast to strengthen as the week
draws to a close.
Mission control has been in touch with some new
routing details for the shortest 'great circle' route to St Lucia. This means
turning slightly north again, which comes as a shock after so many days of
heading south. Critically, though, it means facing the setting sun and ticking
off minute after minute of longitude, which is good for morale even at 2.5
knots. Just 1750 miles to go...
The fins alluded to above belonged to a gigantic
wahoo, who got haplessly dragged onboard this morning after a spirited fight
with the skipper at the reel. Of course, William was quick to lay claim to the
beast, muttering something about how it had been 'his watch'. We think we may
have refined our big fish landing technique at last, after days of little
practice. Our wahoo weighed in at about 10kg (22lb). After heeding my fish
book's dire warnings about his rows of razor-sharp teeth that can 'sever an
artery easily', we steaked the blighter, and he's chilling in the fridge ahead
of supper.
We also glimpsed a lazy fin protruding from the
water about a hundred yards away as we had lunch in the cockpit today. Despite
fears of sharks, it seems more likely that this was a genuine moonfish - a
highly toxic beast that grows to huge proportions and wafts around the surface
flapping its fin lazily.
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