Hazel Fry - First five days

All crew members, the last 2 arriving on Monday Nov 15, are anxious to begin the journey. Sadly, no more salsa dancing! The morning of our departure a band, jugglers and a couple of characters on stilts came down our slip. Lots of fan-fair, picture taking, shaking of hands particularly with the folks that Don (now referred to as "skipper")has met over the past several weeks. A quick side note - our skipper does not necessarily walk past the 1st restaurant when it comes time for dinner - we think the key is that he needs a couple of weeks to do the scouting so for all future trips he will be sent as the advance party!

Back to sailing - days 1 thru 6. Watch crews are established after a quiet but great start with Ray as tactician, picking the Committee boat end of the line setting Hazel Fry up for clear air running the first leg to the corner of Gran Canaria in a light breeze from the NE.
The sky was full of a couple of hundred plus, coloured sails and white sail combos. Fortunately most were in our rearview mirror. Now the pressure is on to maintain our nice position. Watch Crews are Skipper, brother Wayne and Ray and Sandy, Glenn (another brother) and Warren make up the second crew - occasionally referred to as the A-Team! Winds pick up out of NE making for a great 1st day! Wayne's dinner is nothing short of spectacular and has continued with the same excellence for every meal!

Day 2 - The fleet has spread out, about 8 sails in view at the dawn. we are well on our way to Cape Verdes (located some 800 miles south of Las Palmas) - good solid breezes and we have settled into ship routines. We cover 175 mile in the 1st 24 hours. Lunch is enjoyed with some Hank Williams tunes - we're guessing we are the only ones doing that!!

Day 3 -we see 4 sails at dawn. Blue sky - winds have been between 15 - 20 since about mid-night out of ENE - have now been sailing 24 hours with the gennaker. We are now ONLY 2509 miles from St. Lucia!! During the A-Team's dog watch, Warren, or occasionally referred to as 'nurse warren' bangs his big toe and notices the toe nail is blue the next morning. And just to be sure, he bangs it again while entering the companion-way - the toe nail is now somewhat flexible. The crew is amazed the he only said "ouch" and #@#%*&!!*##@#. He tapes it down and with some advice from Ray he tapes two toes together. Relax everyone - it's ok today - well kind of. Have our 1st whale sighting, drop our sails for a few minutes for visual inspection of the rigging.. All's good!

Day 4 - Great morning but dying wind. Some boats are motoring but not us. Only 1 sail in view this AM, about 8 miles behind on our course. Afternoon, no wind! We (crew) have noticed that the skipper spends a lot of time creating work projects - he seems to have a need to see us working - not playing!?! Sandy and Warren go in for a swim - apparently the depth is only 2 miles here! Wayne prepares a luncheon feast - potato salad, fried chicken, tomatoes, onions and the list goes on. Very little breeze through-out the night - the high light was watching Glenn complete a full circle while apparently steering by the compass!

Day 5 - AM - No boats on the horizon, wind picks up early morning and we are heading to the western edge of Cape Verdes. With blue skies, several cups of coffee and a fantastic omelet made by the skipper and his assistant Ray, there is a sense of oneness on the Hazel Fry and, as a result, any thoughts of a mutiny have been quickly set aside! Pod of whales (we think) came within 10 - 15 meters of the boat.

Glenn brought his Hagstrom guitar all the way from B.C. only to have the neck broken in transit. Not to be shut down from fine on-board entertainment, the captain and crew assisted Glenn on a guitar repair job using glue and clamps offered by a neighboring captain-other boats along the dock were very jealous-not everyone can have a multi-talented musician on board!

You can tell by the fine turn of phrase that Warren is the writer of this message. Being such a shy fellow, he failed to mention his exceptional happy-hour beverages served on board while we watch the sun descend into the Atlantic and try to see the elusive green flash(we caught a nice one). Ray is a wealth of knowledge and skill regarding boats, sailing, sail trim, and repair of all things nautical-he has done amazing things with splicing, stitching, resolving chafe (not of a personal nature-this would be for Nurse Warren)and creation of crotch straps (sorry,mandatory safety gear!)

Cowboy Sandy keeps pushing the captain and crew to 'Go Faster' and keeps the crew entertained with tales that would be perfect material for the next Country and Western ballad! The skipper is relaxing his control of the beer fridge, but may re-impose restrictions and sanctions if the boat's performance lags. Under Don's expert guidance, the Hazel Fry is doing everything and more that could be asked and has performed admirably-as Ray would say "Brilliant!"
Happy Hour is calling-a call that cannot be denied.

Day 6- a little slow overnight, only about 130 miles. Many more dolphins visiting us and this afternoon Ray Orbison is accompanying us as we pound on WSW with the Gennaker pulling well and many boats reconsider whether to head more west or try to keep more south for the trades which seeem to be lower than usual.

Standing By . . . Warren Wing, Crew of Hazel Fry