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Aislig Bheag - Be careful what you wish for...



So after fatefully asking Neptune for ‘a bit of wind’ in our last blog entry and Gaetano even more  dangerously saying to Alison during dinner that “he’d like to see a storm very much!” we sailed straight into a bit of weather.  Luckily it wasn’t a storm, but it was still a pretty dreary twenty four hours of strong squalls, grey skies and heavy rain. Clearly our sacrificial offerings to the Gods had not worked or more likely our cheek had to be aptly rewarded!
 
But despite a wet day and night for most of the crew we managed to have some fun with silly principal among them was how we’d missed a trick by not getting Pringles to sponsor us.  During bad weather it turned out to be the favourite snack (lunch) of choice for the crew on watch.  Owen was delighted to discover that his sea berth was right above a leaky hatch and on a Port tack the leak ran down straight into his back.  Many members of the crew commented that it would have been a good opportunity to grab a shower but surprisingly at 3am few ventured to strip off and take to the foredeck with L’Oreal in hand much to the girls dismay – seven days on board a boat with five men who haven’t showered you can imagine – even the Lynx effect has it’s limits!
 
Still, as is always the way with sailing, the winds calm and the skies always clear and so yesterday we spent charging close hauled in 18knots of wind on a beautiful sunny day with blue waves cresting to starboard.  The good weather brought a traditional Birmingham Curry out of Owen, the chef for the evening, much to the dismay of Gaetano who had his heart set on the ‘much more difficult’ Spaghetti alla Carbonara (much more difficult than pasta alla tomato sauce as the eggs must be well beaten for several minutes before).  Gaetano in any event was causing the crew concern by not eating at all during the bad weather and continuing the hunger strike for three full days until a Penne alla Meatballs tickled his fancy much to our relief! Some might find it more worrying that he spent a great portion of the dog watch preparing some of the females nails to be polished and this followed a hair straightening appointment he’d made with the same crew member in Bermuda.  Clearly the ‘Italian Stallion’ or Don Gaetano as he is affectionately known is pulling out some Italian flare with the ladies!
 
Other notable events of the last twenty four hours which probably should be higher up this post include the discovery this morning that the hydraulic tension for the back stay had broken. For those unfamiliar with sailing, this a very bad thing.  The backstay and the forestay play a relatively small part in sailing – they keep up the mast!! Luckily the High overhead promised no winds and clear skies today so a temporary repair has been effected.  Good forecast from Friday onwards should bring us nicely into the Azores on 2nd or 3rd of June (fingers crossed).  All in all a typical few days of sailing, some ups, some downs and a lot of ‘wow’ moments with sunrises to kill for and dolphins off the bow most days.  After a good nights rest the crew are all in good spirits mainly because we cracked out the rum to celebrate the half way mark to celebrate!
 
The crew of Aislig Bheag
 
 


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