HADA Day 8 -- Wahoo! Dolphins!!
Post #6 - Monday, December 2nd, 2013, 16:00 UTC (GMT)
Day 8 on HADA. It’s sunny, clear, with gentle seas and winds running light at 5-10 knots.
Given the winds, our forward progress has been a tad slower than we’d like but the “comfort” factor of the crossing has shot through the roof these past 2 days.
The boat is being pulled along by our A3 gennaker at an average of 6.5 knots for the past 24 hours, heeling about 9 degrees to port, with very little sail changes expected from here on. The ride is smooth, which made for some nice sleeping at night and relaxing on deck earlier today.
Wahoo! Bang, early this morning - the sun wasn’t up for long - and we had another hit on the fishing line. So far we’ve had 2 Tunas, but today we got a Wahoo! White, firm meat, ready to eat raw just as it comes off the filleting knife. The word from the galley masters (you know who they are) is that a chunk of it will get worked into a nice ceviche; with the rest hitting the pan, blackened, Louisiana style.
More fixes! The boom vang had it’s key bolts come somewhat loose (apparently long ago) at the underside of the boom, causing some major chafing, rubbing, and slipping, which was noticed while one of us (the guy resting his back ;-) enjoyed the nice weather on deck earlier today. We backed out the bolts, cleaned up the channel, and got the vang back into the place it belongs. We also got the A2 back in it’s sock, the lifelines tightened up, and are going about the boat doing little tweaks here and there. André is learning lots from zee masters!
Dolphins! A gorgeous pod of Dolphins showed up late morning, staying with us for a good 15 minutes, jumping and diving relentlessly in crystal clear deep blue waters right off our bow. Magical.
Natural Grace. Beauty. Clear skies. Sunrises. Sunsets. And crossing the Atlantic on the sheer power of wind.
This trip is getting more fun by the day.
André et al.
HADASunset Wahoo1 Dolphins1 HADA Night Pano HADA TJ Andre Anton