Bolero - ARC + Day 3

Day 3

We have all decided that time is passing without any of us being aware of its passage. We are a little like the Seven Dwarfs…..busy doing nothing, working the whole day through.

The sweepstakes on board continue-The water tank was dipped and Nick asked us all to guess how much water was left in Tank 1. We were all far too conservative in our estimation of water consumption as there 15 litres left, meaning that we had used 80 litres, or 10 litres per person per day. The generator was started and tank number 1 was refilled. Tank 5 was also topped up as that had been used previously to flush the system.

Siestas were taken at various points during the afternoon. The midday positions sent by WCC were studied. It is pleasing to see that our old lady is holding her own in the fleet.

Amokura sailed close by with her twin headsails, a great opportunity for a photo.

Shakshuka and a delicious melon, apple, kiwi and ginger salad was enjoyed by us all for dinner.

We have decided that by starting our night watch routine at 8:00pm it means that the crew going off watch have a little time to digest their meal at the helm while the crew coming on at 8:00 have time to relax before their first 3 hour watch.

Just as we were swapping over for the night watches, we were joined by a pod of dolphins, some playing in the bow wave, others in the stern wake and some simply full of the joie de vie swimming and jumping out of the water alongside. Mother Nature wishing us a good night.

At 0315 Ian heard a Pan Pan on the VHF from Hanuman which had sustained rudder and hull damage after hitting a semi submerged object. All crew are safe and they are continuing to Mindelo.

Sailing over night was made easier as we were sailing the same course as North Star so we had her mast head light to guide us. We are still following them and they radioed us to warn us of a pallet that they had floated very close to them. We kept a close watch and passed the pallet 30 yards from us.

We have been joined by another pod a dolphins, seen fulmars flying around and debated the collective noun for flying fish: a shoal or a flock?! Unfortunately Mr Google isn’t available to help us out at the moment……

We made good progress throughout the morning with the wind and seas helping us on our way.

The drum roll distance to go at 13:00 hrs is 375.6. 177.8 miles sailed to our destination in 24 hours.

Fair Winds
Nick, Maz, Ian and Gwyn