Tuesday 4th December
It is sunset after a week at sea and we are listening to a very loud blast of Adele. I have just carried out an evening walk along the decks to check the rigging and am now typing this. All looks sound and the vast open seas are still surging around us with their soporific hiss, punctuated by the odd loud boom as a wave pounds against the hull.
The ever-changing 360 degree panorama of the skies is stunning and life is wonderful! Rafiki is still steaming along at the rate of knots and you can feel her keel hum as the miles disappear beneath us. We are at the beginning of the second week of an anticipated 3-week passage and morale is good!
Andy is humming along to the music as he cooks, Phil is looking out for flying fish as he sits by the wheel, talking to Emily and Rob and Mini-Rob (sorry - James) are playing with our new waterproof camera tied to a boat hook over the edge of the hull. Contentment all round.
We have reached into the freezer for the first time tonight (for a pre-cooked beef stew) and found that everything is still beautifully frozen. We are about to finish the last of our fresh mangoes (which have been the most delicious, ever) and this afternoon we caught a small dorado, filets of which are marinating in fresh lime juice for tomorrow's lunch. Shame about the tuna that got away earlier, but then sailing at 8/9 kts is a little fast to reel it in! We've learnt we have to slow the boat down, if we want to land the fish.
We have been sailing on a lovely broad reach all day, sailing in a southwesterly direction to avoid the light airs sitting to the west of us. We are under the main and the genoa, having had to take in the staysail for the time being, as some of the fixings on the furler have come apart and need some attention, when we next get any light conditions.
Tonight the forecast is for the wind to abate a bit (down to 15/20 kts, anyway), so hopefully we'll have a better night than last night or the night before. For the last couple of mornings Captain Rob has appeared, bright-eyed and bushy tailed after a good rest, totally oblivious to the booms, crashes and lashings of the night before. Phil, Andy and I enjoyed a long rye laugh when he said we hadn't been through any "proper" squalls yet!!! He was also wondering at how so many other boats could possibly have damaged themselves in accidental gybes, when we pointed out just how many times in the night we too had gybed accidentally, with the winds swirling around all over the place!
The way the night watch system is working, I am on watch with Rob (when he isn't doing computer work and I'm not seeing to the children) 8-12, Andy does 12-4 and Phil does 4-8. It seems that whenever I hand over to "Captain Storm" (Andy), a massive squall happens to be coming through and intermittent strong winds seem to be the theme for the rest of his watch. When "Captain Calm" (Phil) comes onto the scene for his 4am watch, the winds die down and come from all over the place.
Menu:
Lunch: Jamon, cheese, olives, fresh bread and Grannie Sally#s Chutney
(last jar started now...)
Supper: Beef stew with rice and cabbage