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Lydia - Day 4 - Really Groovy Day



The day dawned fair but also to a radio kerfuffle as a Spanish search &
rescue aircraft engaged many of the ARC+ fleet in confusing radio dialogue
following the sighting overnight of what was thought to be an 'orange flare'
but what may actually have been a shooting star.

Progress to the Cape Verdes has picked up today with an increase in the wind
to a nicer, but still gentle, 15 kts. Lydia has picked up her skirts and
this post now finds us cracking on between 6 & 7 kts, still off W Sahara but
now in the tropics, having crossed the tropic of Cancer at about midday.

Todays engineering tasks generated a tale of progress & setbacks. The black
water tank 'sender', which should generate a tank level reading was bravely
removed by Henry sporting disposable gloves and a rather pinched expression.
The rest of us generally offered advice from afar. Calcification was the
arbitrary diagnosis and balsamic vinegar prescribed as the cure. The
resulting device shone like a new pin ..... as the boat rolled and it
promptly fell overboard!

Lydia's periodic lurches continue to amuse and frustrate - particularly the
chefs. The doctor discovered it is difficult to catch soup when its on the
move - thereby inventing Soup in Shoe at lunchtime and Henry's Bunga Bunga
Bolgnese slid off plates faster than most Formula 1 cars. The carnage in the
cockpit is probably spectacular but we'll face that in the morning.
Meanwhile, after a spectacularly colourful sunset, the night is balmy and
starlit with a smattering of phosphorescence playing in Lydia's wake.

On the fishing front ours is a tale of the one that got away. 'Infinity B's'
brag on the VHF radio of a dorado caught this evening prompted us to pull
our line in and to discover that a monster of the deep had taken not only
our lure but also the paravane that was attempting to get it down to a
tempting depth. Anyway, we don't need to catch fish. They come to us
........ in the form of dolphins who visited again today to play around our
bow and flying fish - actually just one very small one found on deck this
morning. Still, there are plenty more fish in the sea where that tiddler
came from. They are generally safe from us there.




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