Dolfijn - Dolfijn's ARC - Days 4-6

Day 4
This was a fairly uneventful day, we saw another yacht which was comforting to know someone else had gone south so we weren't alone. Other than that, the sea state become more manageable for steering and so we started flying he spinnaker again.

Daily miles = 176nm

Day 5
This day started out much the same but changed at 05.00 in the morning when the spinnaker got wrapped around the forestay (holds the mast up at the front) and whatever we tried we could not get it to unwrap. We decided to wait until daylight before anything was done further - the only alternative was for someone to go up the mast to try to do something, that someone being the skipper. Daylight came, the skipper had not had much sleep as the thought of going up the mast with the boat rolling in the waves would mean that life, limb and family jewels would be at risk - in those waves, at the top of a mast 18 metres above the water the swing could be 5 metres either side of vertical and 3-4 metres forward and back. Think of he worst bucking bronco ride and add the spice of a lump of metal or 10mm wire waiting to hit you where it hurts if you let go! Anyway, this literally scared the c...sorry Mum...brought on a bowel movement and my prayers were answered as when I came back up on deck Jim and Joe had figured a way of sorting the problem and we were off again under white sails. Other than that we had our first flying fish breakfast - the fish fly out of the water to get out of the way of the boat and sometimes end up on deck. However one small fish doesn't go far between 5 of us so we just had a little taster - bit like sardines and very tasty!

Daily Miles = 184 nm

Day 6
The spinnaker went back up for most of the day but taken down at night when we had 2 massive dolphins come along side to watch the action - they were so big and so dark we first thought they were whales. Other than that nothing much to report except that we finally got to see some stars - the days and nights had been pretty grey up until then.

Daily Miles = 168 nm