Skipper's log
Smartphones must be one of the greatest advances in technology in recent
years so how come my watch knew it was 9.00pm, the chart plotter knew it
was 9.00pm, the battery operated ships clock knew it was 9.00pm, yet my
iphone doesn't and wakes me up and tells me its 10.00pm time for watch????
Apple have really gone downhill since Steve Jobs demise.
As you may have gathered from the heading we have departed Cape Verde and
are off on the big one to St Lucia. Suitably enough, having drifted in on
diesel fumes we drifted over the start line in zero wind powered by the
alcoholic fumes radiated by the crew. Yes it was a quiet night the night
before but that doesn't seem to entail abstaining from alcohol. Ross was
put to bed comatose at 12.00 and up again at 3.00 looking for a party -
the man's constitution is phenomenal. We got off to a reasonable start and
then the wind dropped and we settled back into our customary position at
the back plotting our move to split the fleet. There had been some
discussion about delaying our start to wait for good winds but depending
on your view point it was decided detox now was a good idea or the sooner
we start the quicker we get our hands on rum punches!! Crew now focused on
life at sea. The vegetable turner is incredibly happy as he found some
very interesting new friends in the market at Mindelo and in fact he has
formed a particularly disturbing relationship with a vegetable I have
never seen before and can be found quietly muttering away to it. I am
thinking of renaming him the Vegetable Whisperer. Kevin over the moon as
he can now do some new spreadsheets for duties and rotas and develop his
complex sheet he produces daily to tell us our position in the fleet, I
haven't the heart to tell him we can look out the window and go "thats
Ardnagee over there and Margot behind us so we have gone up a place" still
it keeps him happy and out of harms way. Dan still working hard at
developing his plan for the 24 hour siesta. Warren, you remember Warren
the Hydrovane Beatty continues to run the boat. We now have a new crew
member - Squiddly Diddly the Pink squid ( I have told you before we like
the names, yes they are childish but it keeps us happy). Squiddly is our
new fishing lure but we are trying a new tactic - we are not going to put
our line out today so that all the fish will come to the surface to see
where it is and then Wallop thats when we get them with the Gaff Hook -
Inbloodygeniuos. I will report on the progress of that one next time. We
have also introduced what I think should be an Olympic sport - the rush to
get to the 12 volt and USB charging points when the engine is on to
recharge the main batteries its like boat version of musical chairs with
one crew member left holding a charger and nowhere to plug it.
Now the technical bit - we are currently at 16:42.949N 25:53.971W I like
doing this bit as it makes me look as though I know what I'm doing but in
reality it's how the Mailasail tracker updates. You can also follow our
progress in real time if you download the app YB Races.
10:00 - Breaking news - A FISH HAS BEEN CAUGHT !!
The pink squid lure has a attracted a gay Mahi Mahi (or Dolphin fish - but
NOT a Dolphin) . A bit on the small side but beggars can't be choosers.
Postscript from Crew Member KB :-
Hi to all the followers from the Lighting Industry - good to have you
'aboard'.
Many thanks to Jo Stimson for setting up the Charity page and thanks to
those of you who have generously made a donation. If I can help sail a
dry-boat across the Atlantic and give up alcohol for 20 days, I would hope
others can give to 2 very worthwhile charities.
Hopefully we will have made better sailing progress tomorrow - will update
you then.
Previous videos you may wish to watch :-
https://youtu.be/k-ER4UBe40o
https://youtu.be/4KpxhVDBMXc
https://youtu.be/UFGdCmwFKdw
https://youtu.be/if-pQi4Zqbu
You may never get the music out of you head though !
Best wishes
Kevin
http://blog.mailasail.com/itchycoo
ARC POSITIONS.