Summer Daze of Chris
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 22 Jul 2011 15:18
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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.
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