El Skipper Robbo en Rafiki reports: Sunday 2nd December
Lots of crew morale boosting activity today. We had to run the engine today as lack of sun has led to the batteries being a bit low, but this meant hot water for showers all round. The crew cleaned themselves up well and got into the spirit by doing some clothes washing leaving Rafiki looking like a high speed, floating Chinese laundry with Andy’s purple underpants billowing in the 20kts breeze.
We caught another fish just before lunch, a dorado we think, but it came off the hook on the way in, which was a real shame. The disappointment was short-lived as we perked ourselves up when Andy lowered the Spanish jamon from its cradle in the coach roof and proceeded to cut the first of what we hope will be a lot of thin slices for lunch.
Jamon is a particular Spanish cured ham and as part of our provisioning, Cally and Andy bought a whole leg from the market last week. We had assumed there would be plenty left by the time we arrived in St Lucia, but after today’s lunch, we’re not so sure.
Weather was mixed today with a rather grey morning brightening into a lovely afternoon with us sailing along at about 8 knots under poled-out genoa alone following a slight wind shift in the late afternoon.
The evening began with a lovely display of stars, but soon clouded over and we had a rather squally night with strong winds from time to time and generally rough and uncomfortable seas. Ideally we would have altered course, but this would mean taking down the whisker pole, not a task to be done at night unless we really had to.
Menu:
Breakfast: fresh mango & cereal
Lunch: cheese, jamon, cucumber and avocado open sandwiches with fresh bread accompanied by Grannie Sally’s chutney
Supper: homemade pizza, fresh kiwi fruit for pudding