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Domini - Log 6 - just when everything was going right...



We had 25 knots of wind behind us, a strong favourable current, and we were looking good to achieve our first ever 200 nautical mile day. Just as everything was going right - which is a most unusual state of affairs on a boat - Lyn noticed something trailing behind us. Perhaps we’d caught a tuna? It seemed unlikely given that we haven’t got a fishing rod, but we needed to take a closer look.
We quickly stopped the boat, which is not that quick when you’re barrelling along at nine knots with a screecher out one side and a genoa the other. Ju then climbed down onto the transom and at last we could see the problem. There was a whole bundle of fishing ropes, netting and buoys tangled around the rudder. What a mess. Grrrrr.

He managed to cut the worst of it away, but some of it was still tangled and out of reach under the boat. Even though the boat was stopped we were bobbing up and down in the quite heavy seas, so the normal thing of going over the side and cutting it free wasn’t an option. The transom can easily come down and whack you on the head, which would definitely spoil your day. Besides, even if he could have cleared it, it didn’t seem as though it would be that easy to get back on board afterwards.

So what next?

It’s amazing what you can do armed with a boat hook and a knife. It took a bit of doing, but eventually he managed to cut some more away, grab one of the buoys and pull the rest on board. We were free.

What a hero!

To Santa Marta and Beyond!

Ju & Lyn

Oh - and we still managed to do 200 miles in one day. 212 in fact.

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