Summer Daze of Chris

A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 22 Jul 2011 15:18
Hello there, seaman Chris reporting in.  After being Shanghai'd a week ago on the streets of Newport I am now well into the shipboard routine.  It is Thursday the 21st not that days or dates seem important to us out here.  The passage of time is marked only by watches, cooking and washing-up duties.  Speaking of watches, we put ours forward by half an hour for the second time yesterday.  We are now a third of the way to Flores, our first port of call in the Azores and greeting the rising sun a little earlier each day as well as drinking to its setting that bit sooner each night.  None of us is quite sure where the 'lost time' goes, but the consensus is we're paying back what was borrowed on our respective journeys west.
 
Yesterday was a glorious day despite having little wind.  I woke late having done the 4-7 morning watch and it was already swelteringly hot.  We soon abandoned any pretence of being able to sail and all piled into the water for a wash and a swim.  It was crystal clear, sky blue  and a balmy but refreshing 21 degees, like diving into huge, liquid Foxes glacier mint.  It is a strange feeling swimming hundreds of miles from land in water too deep for our puny sonar to penetrate to the bottom.
 
We motored along later, trying to keep cool and were treated to Sam's hotdogs 'n 'kraut for lunch.  The afternoon was punctuated by shoals of flying fish skimming over the waves chased by tuna jumping into the air after them.  Sadly we didn't catch any tuna but several mornings have revealed unlucky flying fish on our decks.  Alex cooked a sea-shepherd's pie (no whale meat, obviously) for supper as we motored on into the evening.
 
A pod of dolphins passed us at nightfall and a band of haze meant the waning half-moon didn't rise till past eleven.  Before that the sky was clear and studded with stars as you rarely see them on land and the bow and stern wakes were lit up with bio-luminescent sparkles of micro-organismas spooked by the behemoth of Summer Song pushing between them.
 
A little afte midnight the wind picked up although it was still warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt.  We were able unfurl the genoa and shut down the donk and a restful night was had by all.  Another wonderful day.
 
Summer song is faster, drier, roomier and better equipped than any comparable boat I have been on.  Sam and Alex are great skipper and first mate to crew for.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Azores in another 10 days or so and we may have time to explore several of the islands there.
 
Love to all at home, Chris.