Thursday 27th November
Position at
Noon
23 degrees 50 W
20Degrees 57 N
Distance travelled 112 Nautical Miles
Woke up
again to the spinnaker taking us forward at 4/5 knots from
limited
winds but Anam Cara is very steady under these conditions and
therefore very
comfortable. Listening to the weather forecast suggests
we may have come to
the end of the run for the spinnaker, well for the time
being anyway.
I said in an earlier log we are having to use the generator
more than
anticipated, our batteries seem to be going done quicker than they
should
but we are trying to run the freezer as low as possible as well as
the
fridge. We also used the radar for the first night and when you
throw the
auto pilot into the equation, well we were not too surprised; this
was also
hindered by the fact we had minimal wind so the wind generator was
not
producing anything.
The generator was switched off early morning
and was switched back on again
around 0600 hrs only this time the battery
charger was not working!
Being dark still we couldn't see anything so we
switched on the main motor
to charge the batteries and wait 'till
daylight.
It is Esta's mother watch today and breakfast wasn't just
cereals, no, she
had prepared a very varied fruit salad to start, then
cereals! This was
washed down watch freshly brewed coffee.
Back
to the battery charger. After testing we found power going in to
the
charger but nothing coming out. All fuses checked and nothing
obvious
faulty so we decided it was US. Annoying as it is just over a
year old!
Thank goodness I kept the old one, so down into the depths of
the bilges to
rescue the old charger that used to work. We put the
power into the
alternative charger and "bingo" we had power coming out, so we
fitted it.
We had to make a new negative cable up so stripped several small
cables to
create the new one. The moment of truth, on went the
generator, switched
the replacement charger on and yes it was still
working.
By now lunch time had arrived and just as we were getting ready
to eat we
had the cry of excitement, "We've caught a fish! Getting it
in was no
problem, cleaning and topping and tailing came easily to Rod and
Esta had
produced a marinade to cook it in. So we had a slight delay
'till lunch but
when the fish was turned out of its cooking foil, well a
feast. Though it
was small it had sufficient meat on it to satisfy our
needs supplemented of
course with freshly made bread. It tasted very
good and looked similar to a
large sea bass. We complemented this feast
with a celebratory glass of Vino
Tinto
A good hearty lunch was
followed by some with a siesta.
Battery charger checked again and looking
good.
Today was the first of our 4 time (change) zones so we are still
reporting
to ARC HQ at noon UTC but ships time is now 1 hour back and causing
a few
minor problems with shift changes, getting muddled up etc! But as
we are
relaxed, we are fine and just have a laugh.
When you think the
five of us only got together last Thursday and leaving 3
days later, I am
amazed how we have all gelled and our skills, strengths or
weaknesses have
all compliment one another, Anam has a great team aboard and
she is
performing well because of it.
Basil, you will remember had a nasty
experience yesterday when I sat on him
, well I am pleased to report he is
recovering in the hospital ward with
Sybil by is side and we expect a full
recovery.
Great excitement late afternoon, we caught another fish hauled
in about 100
metres only to lose it whilst bringing it out of the
water. I regret not
having bought a landing net, I nearly
did.
We keep thanking ourselves for getting the spinnaker up it has made
all the
difference during these few days of poor wind and being brave and
keeping it
flying through the night I think has been our savour as to where
we are
currently placed in the ARC. I have been asked to also
record the maximum
speed recorded with the spinnaker, and that was 9 knots on
the skippers
watch!!!!!
Dinner tonight was sweet and sour chicken with
a spicy rice, well done Esta
but you have created a culinary path that I fear
us mortals will find hard
to follow. If that wasn't enough, out of the
oven popped an excellent apple
crumble with cinnamon and sultanas in
complemented with, yes home made
custard!
As we were cleaning up, the
cry from the stern was heard again, we've caught
another fish. Out we
go, haul in the line and there it is big with yellow
stripes and a fan
tail. Didn't see any more as again whilst trying to lift
it aboard it
got away. Oh how I wish I had bought that landing net! If
that
was not all, the fish took our lure with it, I hope it
gets
indigestion.
Now for setting the night sails. We had waited
as late as we dare before
pulling in the spinnaker so at 2000 hrs down it
came and up went the Genoa,
re set the main took a course of 225 degrees
travelling around 6 knots and
then settled down for the night
On
reflection we had a very busy day one way or another, very little time
to
read and no time to watch a DVD, I wonder what tomorrow will
bring