Endeavour III - Endeavour III - day 6

End of the first week at sea.

Wow .. the first week is almost over and the pattern of life on the boat has started to take on a familiar routine. We are doing 1 1/2 hour watches. With six of us on the boat it means we are on watch every 7 1/2 hours. We have a nicely printed watch schedule that we refer to throughout the day to check who is on when. After a while you work out your favourite watches. For me the prize watch is 7.30 in the morning. You start the watch at dawn and gently see the sun rising on the horizon. It feels quite emotional as the sun rises and you realise you are in the middle of an ocean, miles away from anywhere. The enormity of the Atlantic is hard to comprehend and we have all discussed the feeling of probably being first person to cross the exact spot where we currently are.

Before we can get too philosophical the screaming fishing reels gets everyone on their feet. Early this morning we caught two great looking Dorado - each probably 5-10 kg and about 80cm long. Unfortunately each fish results in us losing a bucket (sorry Dave!) so we are now down to our last one. Filleting the fish makes quite a mess so washing down the deck afterwards is essential. Tonight we will feast on fried fish and sweet potato chips. The ocean is starting to feed us.

Friday nights is band practice night. Given we won’t be first to cross the Atlantic we are aiming to win the prize for best ocean going band and have religiously been practicing classics like ‘Th Drunken Sailor’ and ‘South Australia’. It’s hardly the high arts but…. With two guitars, a ukulele, great vocals and a Cajon on board we have the makings of something special.

Yesterday we also crowned ‘Murderer of the week’ and the dubious honour went to Natasha. Steve fought valiantly to the end but got caught accepting, lamb like, a can of beer on the swim platform. Zero zero beer that is! Well done Tash, you conniving …

Much of the day involves some active sailing. Changing the sails takes 20-30 minutes and involves putting away one large sail, getting out another and pulling on various sheets and halyards until everything is in place. On Friday the wind dropped considerably so we tried various combinations of sail in an attempt to maintain our position and hopefully catch up on those ahead off us. Last night the wind picked up and we were steaming along with a winning sail combination at 8-9 knots.

Having two doctors on board is a real luxury as they tend to the variety of cuts, bruises and burns that we have had in the first week. Having someone with six years training to clean a cut and apply a plaster is suprisingly reassuring..Hopefully there is nothing else to stretch their talents going forward..

At night, in the darkness, Endeavour feel very much like an out of control fair ride. The red and green navigation lights on the bow light the sails and make it almost impossible to see what’s ahead. The waves bash into the sides and constantly throw the boat off course. The sails then flap as they are pushed too high into the wind. The auto-helm then adjusts course and for a brief few seconds we glide, once again, through the water. As the waves grow we surf down the front of the wave and briefly speed up. The cycle then repeats and after a while it feels like normal. Time to put on some music or another podcast..

We have done almost 1,100 miles and have another 1,750 to go. It feels like we are making good progress and so far the boat is behaving well. The next ten days will be the real test. The new lithium batteries have proved a worthwhile investment. Without them the power drain from the fridges and auto helm would have sucked the old batteries dry in less than 12 hours. Now we can run the generator for 3-4 hours during the day and comfortably get through the night with power to spare. The watermaker is also proving invaluable. We are concentrating on keeping our main water tank full and showering every 3-4 days. Today we did a HIT session in the main saloon in an effort to do some exercise (thanks Imara and Tash for the program). We then needed a shower.

We are now heading 265-270 degrees on a westerly course . It is strange to think that we will be arrving in the caribbean in the next 10 days… but we will. Or at least that’s the plan.

Kevin - Saturday 26th November.
Covered around 175 miles in the last 4 hours.