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Karma Wins - Blog 2 - The Secont Third



Blog 2 The Second Third

True to form the seas and wind picked up at supper time so the balancing act was required. We seem to be thriving on meat that has been defrosted and re-frozen several times….touch wood. Dawn and I have called a truce and it is now wedged behind the tap. Two sausages made a break for freedom and got down the stairs to our cabin and almost made it there. Per and Barry fortunately didn’t notice! They also haven’t realised that I am using the slightly off milk in the sauces. Some of the long-life milk seems to be short-lived and is a little bit sour. It makes brilliant yogurt, just a spoonful of natural yogurt mixed in, leave it out on deck all day and it is delicious.

We had a brilliant night sailing, winds around 20 knots, Karma Wins doing about 9 knots, seas a tiny bit less wild and no rain. Today, Thursday, the sun is shining, I have made a large loaf of bread and there are 2 flying fish to eat. Barry has drilled 4 larger holes in the salt cellar as everything is damp and the salt just doesn’t flow. I’m going to sneak some raw rice in to see if that helps.

Friday. Per has spent two days trying to sort out Barry’s sat phone and conquer the optimiser. Last night he succeeded and it was up and running. All very technical and it has taken some serious concentration by Per. At sunset Barry and Per were sat up in the pilot seat discussing the sails when Per announced he was concerned the compass light wasn’t working. I suggested turning the navigation lights on..and bingo! The third mate does have some inspirations.

We are enjoying the sailing, the sea is still a choppy but the waves are going almost with us so every now and then we are surfing which is a great feeling. There is not much banging on the hull which is a relief as it echoes through the whole boat. Of course as soon as I wrote that it starts again. We have 2 reefs in the main and the genoa slightly reefed and are doing 7-11 knots in 18-26 knot winds.

The wind indicator went on strike last night but fortunately the wind did not keep changing direction which it did the night before. Night watches are pure pleasure (for now); sitting up in the pilot’s seat, watching the stars and the moon with good music on the ipod. Last night there was a distinct fishy smell so something big must have surfaced and burped. It was still cloudy though so I couldn’t see anything. Only one small fish and a squid on deck so not worth cooking.

Barry has just made a chocolate cake and even though we had had lunch we all had a warm piece with cream, delicious. Per is back on the optimiser problem as today it is not working again. We have a cargo ship approaching us on her way to Korea. Apart from the fishing boats she is the first ship to show up on the AIS.

Chrissy White

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