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Mary Doll - Day 5 - Ninjas, Fish, Pirates and a Stowaway on the High Seas



It all started so well. The wind was behind us, with the pole out and preventer on. For non-sailors - the front sail was extended out on the starboard (right) side and the main sail out on the port (left) side, like wings on a bird at flight. The set up maximising the wind blowing towards our intended direction, with a potential downside of limited manoeuvrability. As the seas ahead were wide and empty, we were all happy with the speed and direction as the night shift started.

Then we met the Ninja. To prevent a jibe (not good) as the wind changed in the dark of night, Letitia and Lewis’s shift altered course a few degrees to starboard, which was quickly followed by a radio broadcast from “Delivery Catamaran” asking them to alter their direction as we were now on a collision course, and they had “right of way”. This came as a huge surprise as our highly competent crew had double checked for other sea vessels both visually and on the AIS (Positioning) system before altering course and had seen nothing. “Where are you” asked Letitia. “Off your starboard side” replied Delivery Catamaran. Imagine Letitia’s surprise as she turned around, squinted into the darkness and scanned out to the full horizon seeing nothing but sea and sky, before her eyes settled on a ghost like shape sailing in complete darkness (no lights) only 200 metres away. To cut a long story thats bound to be repeated many times short - subsequent speculation is that this ninja vessel was being delivered new to a customer, by a yachtsman unfamiliar with it’s positioning system and light switches. With some excellent judgement and decision making on board Mary Doll, the hazard was avoided. The camaraderie from fellow ARC members who had heard it all unfold on the radio was a big plus. A special mention to “Misty Mhor” for their intervention in confirming that Delivery Catamaran was not showing up on AIS, and to “Casamara” for their emotional support.

Then we caught a fish. A Mahi Mahi (Dorado) apparently. Lewis was first to react, reeling it in. The yacht was brought to a stop. A hook, bucket, knives, Derek’s Leatherman, and a variety of other apparatus were all quickly requisitioned on to an area of the rear deck, along with up to four excited crew members at a time, plus a bottle of brandy for a swift and clean entry into the fish gills. All this was happening as the now stationary Mary Doll started rolling with the waves. Seriously - the danger posed by Ninja catamaran was nothing compared to what was now being faced. All’s well that ends well though. Some good “fishing on board a yacht” lessons were learnt. It was a real team effort. Lewis reeled it in, hooked it, cut it, and supported the full sea to plate process. Derek was finding and supplying all the apparatus, plus helping with the hook and bucket. I took on the cameraman role before helping with the heavy lifting. Caroline was filleting and cooking. Letitia, of course, was on the brandy.

We all enjoyed some fresh fish and pasta for dinner. To top it off Letitia baked an excellent carrot cake topped with butter icing, which we all enjoyed before settling into the shift pattern for the evening thinking that the day couldn’t possibly be more full.

Then we met The Pirates. Derek spotted night lights from a yacht in our path, but (again) nothing on AIS. He promptly sent out a radio message to “the yacht at the following coordinates”. Our first red flag was a “This is Sailing Yacht we are on a collision course” reply in a French / Ivory Coast / Cape Verde??? accent - No registered boat name or any suggestion or discussion on avoidance strategies. Our second red flag was that all attempts to get “Sailing Yacht” to move to another radio channel for a discussion failed - channel 3, 72 and 71 were all attempted and aborted. Our third red flag was when they announced on the public channel 16 that they would “Take avoidance action”, despite having right away (very good of them, but a bit unusual). As they turned to move behind us, we got our fourth red flag when they asked if we were a big yacht sailing to the Caribbean. The fifth and final red flag was when as we watched their green starboard navigation light sail behind us, we also saw a red light that appeared to be closer and moving towards us - was it an attack dingy launched from it’s rear, or perhaps a head torch on deck appearing closer, an optical illusion in the night? Sleep deprivation on a dry boat, plus over active imaginations and a few red flags were all coming together. As we discussed, I started thinking of some Tekki techniques from my Karate training that could come in handy for hand to hand combat on a boat, but the consensus from the rest of the crew was that we should turn on the engine and “do a runner”. Probably wise.

An alternative explanation is that we met a friendlyFrench couple in a small yacht, maybe with slightly odd light configuration, making their way to Cape Verde and getting out of the way of us bearing down on them … ?!

To top it all off, there was a stowaway bird on board for a large part of our journey. We miss internet access at times like these. Derek and Letitia were convinced that it was a Swallow. I have a suspicion that it was an Oyster Catcher :-)

Bobby





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