Day 4 continued with abundant sunshine and limited wind, to the frustration of the crew. However by 8pm the combination of slowly strengthening winds and the onset of darkness led us to bring down the kite and pole out the genoa. Whilst the night watches were relatively quiet, the wind held up and even built up very slightly.
To add insult to injury, no fish even nibbled on the line despite a number of lure changes. We opted for a mathematical strategy to address our fishing woes, deploying a second line to the starboard quarter. However throughout the whole of day 4 and the morning of day 5, there was not a nibble on the line
Day 5 has seen a further increase in wind speed with a loud exclamation just made over my shoulder as the speed record (excluding the skippers 11.5 on day 1) has just been smashed with 9.44 knots (for the record Bob was at the wheel)
More notable than the sailing was the lower than average overnight consumption of biscuits and chocolate. An unproven theory circulating the corridors of Coyote was that Carlo had brushed his teeth before coming on watch - and therefore rendered unable to eat. Perhaps more likely was the quality of the cuisine served up during the day. We were treated to not one, but two hot meals by our resident Chef Yacine. Lunch was vegetable rice (necessitated by the ongoing perishing of our onboard fruit and veg supply) accompanied by salad, whilst supper was meatballs served on a bed of pesto and pasta. Whilst I'm sure you would all agree that this would be a fine meal served up in kitchen of your home, it was even more so for us, with the closest country being Mauritania - a country not known for its Gastronomy, despite its French connections.
You might think from the proportion of this update dedicated to eating, that the eating is rapidly becoming the key focus of this relatively windless adventure. You will not be surprised to learn then that on the morning of day 5, rumours started circulating the boat that the food store would not survive the duration of the trip. In a desperate attempt to avert a run on the food store, the Skipper, called the crew together for an emergency meeting to insist that there remains sufficient provisions. However the head chef remains unsatisfied that sufficient provisions remain and is insisting on cataloguing the inventory. I will update your tomorrow on the outcome.
Anecdotes
Aside from sailing, food, and fishing, the only other event to report on is one of our crew members increasing interest in the other crew members. Already he has slept in two different cabins (and that was before we left port). In the interest of protecting myself from litigation, I am unable to reveal the person in question, but I think you will agree that it is a slightly concerning train of events given the confined space that we are operating in and the distance from land.
Personal Messages
For Brooke, I hope I'll find an email from you when we connect later on today. No news in 4 days now. We took a slow start but the wind is picking up now. We won't be in St Lucia before Thursday or Friday I think and we may even not be there for our fligt on Dec 13... But it's too early to say, we have good speed now so as long as we don't have days with no wind we are on track for a 11/12 Dec arrival. Everything is good otherwise. Miss you though :-) Lov, Julien