22:51.318N 34:27.491W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Fri 16 Nov 2012 13:30
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"All Hands On Deck" - 16th November"
Here we are still rolling along. Nothing much
has changed in the way of rig and wind conditions, everything is fairly stable,
apart from the deck, cabin sole and cupboard contents which are continually
changing position, sometimes more violently than others.
Last night became exciting when the strop holding
the foresail to its booming out pole broke. The pole was swinging
uncurtailed in the breeze and the helm tried to roll the sail away so
that the pole did not project itself through the sail, but the lazy jib sheet
wrapped itself into the sail and as you might imagine caused one hell of a
tangle as the windward jib sheet followed suit and of course it was pitch black,
the wind gusty and spray everywhere! One by one of us appeared on
deck too see what all the commotion was about. Harnesses were
hurriedly put on and clipped to the jackstays and the foredeck light
switched on. One man on the foredeck, one at the furling
line, two on the jib sheets, with instructions boomed down from the
bow, including the odd expletive thrown in for good measure. The sail
was soon unwound from its tangle, wound in again, a new strop fitted to the
poll, the sail deployed again and the chaos was under control. All crew
members safely back in the cockpit and the post mortem began about what should
or should not have happened - at this point I suggested that I would put
the kettle on for a nice cup of tea!
We have seen quite a few Sheerwaters and Petrels
flying low over the crests of the waves searching for their food. It
is quite amazing to see these loan birds hundreds of miles away from any
land. Mostly they are on their own but occasionally two flying in the same
area are seen. They spin on the end of their wing tips as they turn in the
troughs or on top of the crests and then gently drop down onto the water to
snatch a small flying fish as it appears out of the sea. A tough life for
a fish, fleeing from the predators below only to jump straight into the jaws
(beak) of another waiting above.
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