Sailing on past Puerto Rico, where the mahi-mahi leap
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 8 Apr 2011 19:07
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19:20.56N
67:54.12W
Nearly 200 miles down, and just 600 to go... Summer
Song is buzzing along at up to 9 knots in what 'Lucky' Jack Aubrey would
probably have described as a good topsail breeze. Early this morning, a
vigorous, white wave broke under the stern of the boat, bowling us along at a
record 12.1 knots, as the sleepy skipper clung onto the tiller for dear life.
For a change, we're running dead downwind, so we've had the rejuvenated and
patched up spinnaker flying during the day. With just the two of us aboard, we
furl the kite at sunset and then scud along with main and jib during the night.
We both remember only too clearly how trouble always struck the spinnakoo
between midnight and 2am on moonless nights.
So we're reeling off about 160 miles a day as we
foam towards Cuba. Even so, that didn't stop two big catamarans from running us
down and pulling ahead yesterday. Since then, we haven't spied a sail; just
cruise ships festooned with lights like blossom and cargo ships plying the
waters off Puerto Rico. We passed the massive industrial glow of San Juan during
the night, and are now crossing the Mona Channel between Puerto Rico
and the Dominican Republic, which we should clap eyes on before dusk. It
seems strange to be passing these huge islands without stopping for a look, but
tide and nephew wait for no man, so we have to press on to Cuba in time to meet
the Dom and the boys. We'll also run past Haiti, an island that we're both happy
not to be stopping in at with its chief attractions of cholera and human
misery.
In the meantime, we struck a rich seam of fish at
about tea time yesterday. Completing the game fish trifecta (tuna and wahoo), we
got into a beautiful mahi mahi, who was so outraged by her capture that she
jumped clean out of the water far astern. Despite doing 8 knots with the
spinnaker up, we managed to reel her in and land her with the gaff - a big pole
with a cruel spike on it. I did a poor job of butchering her, and Alex had to
saw the fish in two to fit half in the oven for supper. She stuffed it with dill
(thanks Alexis and Rita!), lemon and red onion, then wrapped it in foil to
produce a scrumptious, juicy supper. We'll have the second half tonight after
happy hour.
With just the two of us, night watches are hard
work, and we're both feeling a bit tired and grumpy today. We're going for a
two-hours-on, two-hours-off routine that means you have to sleep quickly and
deeply to get much rest. As we're pogo-ing about in a corkscrew swell, neither
of us slept well. It's the longest two-up passage we've done, and twice the
previous record on the Lisbon to Madeira leg. I'm hoping that we'll slip into a
routine after a while, so it won't seem so exhausting. Will and Graham are
sorely missed...
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