Another day of the wind behind us, so trade wind
sailing with dry decks, has been appreciated by Amelie's crew.
We'd like to take a few moments to expound
on a few of the qualities of Amelie's owner, Per.
He often starts the day with two things uppermost
in his mind - coffee and fish.
Taking the coffee first, Per is pretty fanatical
about good quality coffee, and it isn't long before one of the crew is whipped
into putting the brew on, with the lovely smell of fresh grounds wafting through
the boat. We say fanatical, and we really do mean it! The crew was dragged
around a number of restaurants in Bermuda, with Per questioning the poor
unsuspecting restauranteur about the type of coffee machine, and how fit for the
purpose it might be, which ended up with us effectively being barred from many
eating establishment. This is perhaps a record for ARC crews which are usually
unwelcome in shore establishments due to outrageous behaviour stemming from
having a very good time, rather than simply being difficult about the quality of
coffee on offer.
Fishing is perhaps Per's weakest side. Poor guy, he
says that when Amelie arrived in St.Lucia many of the ARC yachts still had the
tails and other remnants of large fish hanging from rails. Amelie has, so far in
the Atlantic, caught precisely nothing. It isn't that we haven't been trying
hard, or haven't got the right gear - its just that the fish simply don't want
to come aboard Amelie. Frankly, the fish around here are about as safe as they
could possibly be, as none of them are likely to find their way on to our dinner
table.
The new challenge for Per is to come up with
photographic evidence that Amelie has managed to land a decent sized fish BEFORE
he leaves this ocean!
We are just closing down for the evening now,
having had a nasty rain shower through earlier, and found that we have a
contrary current that is now taking at least half a knot off our speed, so we
won't be happy bunnies again until that situation is resolved.
Lets hope that we get a decent number of miles under our keel
tonight!
All the best
From Amelie, her crew, and all the very happy fish that are swimming very
safely around us!