We would have written a blog earlier on this trip but we were too busy holding on to the boat for dear life.
I know people think that sailing is glamorous, and in our case it was *extremely* rock & roll - completely wild for 36 hours with little sleep and a lot of performance-enhancing drugs (OK, just caffeine actually - no budget left for anything crazier when you own a boat ;)), and then a dreadful (swell) hangover where the wind dropped but the waves persisted so we flip-flopped through a sleep-deprived 24 hours of sloppy seas but decreasing winds. Ugh.
Thankfully, Cesarina is used to all this and, like the ageing rock star she is, slid gracefully through the drama around her without so much as a chafed sheet. (Having just written this, I have crossed and uncrossed my fingers, touched wood and kissed my lucky rabbit´s foot, obviously. We sailors are a superstitious lot...) The ocean, much calmer last night, put on a light show worthy of any Jean-Michel Jarre concert with dolphins zipping through the bioluminescent plankton. We emerged tentatively into the sunshine today, sunglasses on, more coffee...
We even ventured to have a shower today. For us, this is always an adventure and today was no exception. Showering on board Cesarina almost always takes place in the open cockpit. This is not because we have naturist - or even exhibitionist - tendencies, but because the ´head´ is in hand-turned mahogany and is a total headache to dry off afterwards so unless it´s really cold outside, we shower outdoors, using a 5 litre bucket of warm water from the kettle. Showering in the cockpit at sea involves lathering up just aft of the wheel and often sliding around, naked and soapy, trying not to end up overboard in the process. It´s often hysterically funny. It has however never before been interrupted by a fish. Dietmar was ready to rinse off, I´m (also in my birthday suit) holding the bucket over his head, ready to pour, and .... zzzzzeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... the fishing line starts to run out. Sounds like a big one! I tip the bucket quickly over Dietmar to rinse off the worst of the soap and he rushes to the rod and starts to bring the line in. The fish makes off with another 100 metres of line... and then the line goes slack. When Dietmar finally winds all the line in, he discovers that the fish has bitten through his 8" lure and unfortunately taken the hook with him. (Sorry, fish, but you´ll be pleased to know that Dietmar´s hooks are made of a fast-corroding steel so it will fall off soon). Frankly though, I´m glad that we didn´t have to naked-wrestle a huge fish aboard. I mean, what if the fish around here are partial to Frankfurters?...
Anyway, terrible innuendo aside, we are loving sailing in a fleet again. This is the third Atlantic crossing with the World Cruising Club for both of us, but our first together (Dietmar and I found each other on the World ARC in 2017), and we have once again met so many kindred spirits already. Today, we have been sailing very close to the crazy bunch on Arabella who were also our dock mates in Las Palmas. I can only assume that they had heard about the naked shower shenanigans because we were minding our own business, ready to launch the Parasailor (a spinnaker with extra knitting and a built-in power kite - getting this up and down is also an adventure with just two on board!) and suddenly their drone appeared next to the boat. They had flown it half a mile to come and take some photos of us at sea! We would have loved to look like super-slick, seasoned sailors at this point, but actually we ended up looking like total klutzes, got into a rare old pickle with the beast and they ran out of battery waiting for us to get our act together and had to fly back to their catamaran. Not at all rock and roll :/ Half an hour later, with our blue and white Parasailor resplendent in the sunshine, they flew back to us. I even put on some lipstick - after all, you never know when the paparazzi are going to show up...
We are really looking forward to seeing the photos in Mindelo, over what I suspect may turn out to be more than just the one drink... ;D
255 miles to go. Current speed 2.9kts, in 6 knots of wind. We will get there eventually!
Fair winds to you,
Emma
PS: Spaghetti bolognaise (not fish ;)) for supper, I suspect. Dietmar has put a smaller lure out and there´s been no interest so far. Read into that what you will... ;D
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