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El Mundo - Wednesday 5th December



Those bastard fish have had ALL my lures, and ALL my line off the reel. We must have 'caught' five or six but each time the line breaks and we cannot get them aboard. I guess the speed of the boat (8-9 knots) and the size of the fish(!?) is too great. Well it must be otherwise we would be eating sushi and fish fillets. But we have a plan. Early this morning ice-man Nick and I delved into the bilges and found some really, really strong line and hooks and have rigged up a cats cradle of blocks and lines with bungee cord as a shock absorb. The lure is over the side and instead of a rod and reel the shipboard end of the line is attached to my biggest powered winch. I plan to winch the bastards aboard!

Last night we passed the halfway mark and in celebration awarded ourselves a small beer. El Mundo is a dry boat when sailing ever since I fell off the back of the boat in Las Palmas marina following a small light liquid lunch! Anyway, last night we had our beers, Ahhhhh the anticipation. The cold beer can with the condenstion dripping down the sides of the tin. The frosted glasses from the fridge. The hiiiiiiiiiiisssssss of the can as one
pulls the tab. The glug-glug as one pours the amber liquid with the milky white foamy head. The loooooooooong drink. The sigh of contentment: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!. It hope it was as good for the rest of the crew as it was for me!!!!

Last night was a bit difficult aboard. I was on night watch with a very squeeeeeeeky vang. The vang is a piston type device connected to the underside of and supports the boom (that which holds the foot of the mainsail - the big white flappy bit) and the foot of the mast (the long tall pointy bit). It controls the mainsail and constantly moves - and in our case constantly squeeks. The sound gets transmitted down the mast which then acts like a bit of an amplifier - filling the boat below, and one cabin in particular, with the most awful din. Suddenly a member of crew trying to sleep below exploded up the campanionway - the conversation was fairly short and pointed and I may not have been my most empathetic at that hour but I did take exception to removing the bl..........ding vang to solve the problem. Anyway we have made up this morning with a few verbal man hugs and ice-man Nick and I have dismantled the vang and re-lubricated it which hopefully will produce a more tranquil and peaceful night tonight. I cannot help thinking that it may be more than coincidental that last night was the first night we have had a drink on the trip.

Otherwise all are well and today we have been bowling along in 25 knots of breeze and a sunny blue sky. I believe in yesterday's blog I mentioned a two-legged visitor who stayed with us for most of the afternoon. Our egret friend was obviously lost, exhausted and hungry. We fed him on a diet of anchovies and bread. After about half and hour or so he promptly sicked up his lunch, crapped all over the deck, and flew off in a northerly direction. I am not confident as to his chances.

Now for today's El Mundo brain-teaser.

Question No 7.

Four ARC crew members were walking back to their boat after leaving the pub. It started to rain so they began to run. Three of them got soaking wet hair, but one of them didn't, even though he was not wearing a hat or carrying an umbrella; neither did he stop to take shelter. How could this be?

As always, fave fun.

And as always, love to all ashore who matter to Jonathan, Dee, Robert and Nick.

This is yacht El Mundo - ooovvvvveeeeerrrrrrr aaannnndddd out!





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