My day "43:24.83N 11:39.28W"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sat 25 Sep 2010 19:43
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Dear Diary: my day on Mother Watch:
0600hrs. Lie-in
0730 get up, have breakfast
0800 make tea for crew, wash up
0900 make tea for crew, wash up then get weather
via email assess and plan weather routeing strategy. In this case, close the
Spanish coast to about 100 miles off and make use of the Portuguese Trades
(winds that blow south along the Iberian coast) to take us
south
1000 make tea & bacon butties for crew, wash
up
1100 messing about with the sails and rig to
get a good combination for downwind running, requiring the main boom to be held
in place by a preventer stay to stop it crashing across dangerously in the event
of an unintended gybe (when the stern of the boat passes through the wind) in
big seas.
1200 make lunch for crew. Pizza, followed by
Mars bars with a yoghurt dip. May catch on. I can particularly recommend the
cherry low fat dip. Yummy. make tea for crew, then wash up.
1300 relax
1400 make tea for crew, wash up
1500 read book on astro-navigation, using sextant
to work out latitude & longitude
1530 make tea for crew, with Jamaica Ginger cake (1
loaf is exactly equal to only four slices, I find)
1600 take practice sun sights using sextant. Our
position accurate to within 25 miles - not bad for first attempt. I could find
America like this - but perhaps not Madeira
1700 turn on generator. Make bread (ie put mix
& water in breadmaker, turn on & wait)
1730 start making evening meal. Sausages and pasta
in a tasty sauce, followed by chocolate spong pudding and the inevitable cup of
tea. last one of the day, I earnestly hope
1800 eat
1830 start tidying up
1945 take in main sail in preparation for night -
need to reduce sails and enable greater manouevrability in the event of meeting
a Spanish fishing boat in the dark
2015 collect evening synoptic charts via SSB radio
from Northolt in UK - charts for t+48 & t+72 transmitted at this
time
2100 write Blog. 2x crew asleep, one
steering
2200 retire to bed - up at 0530 tomorrow for my
Watch.
PS we will be half way to Madeira by midnight. Very
good progress. Record breaking trip if this continues
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