Saturday 1st December – Paula Rosa
There are no more bananas!! We’ve eaten the lot and very good they were too – Canary bananas, not transported half way round the world - delicious. There was serious opposition to having them at the start of our journey as some of the crew believe them to be superstitious on long crossings, fortunately they were overruled and the bananas came too.
All happier today ….amazing how restorative sleep can be!
Last night was so dark, the watch following supper was black, no stars and clouds overhead, just getting to the back of the boat was challenging! It was worth it though, sparkling magic dancing around the stern made up for the lack of stars in the sky (if your all wondering what is she on about, its phosphorescence – Wills describes it as swimming fireflies, me – magic sea fairies, David glowing plankton or sea creatures and Pete, fireflies playing in the mist (no scientific stuff here!)
According to Nick the sunrise was spectacular this morning, but very red, hopefully the old saying sailors warning is not a sign of things to come. Certainly the day is different, the cloud continues from overnight and the sea today is not quite so blue. There is some light rain in the forecast but hopefully if we keep going in this direction we might avoid it. Another gybe executed this morning, all went smoothly, not bad in 20knots of wind and we are heading west once more. Halyards moved and a system to reduce chafe against the boom – chafe is a constant problem on long crossings and can happen frighteningly quickly.
Minor disaster, Wills opened the hatch in our cabin (it is getting pretty warm in there) and of course, you guessed it, we are near the bows of the boat and a few gallons of salty water dumped on top of my bed!! The boat now resembles a launderette with bedding hanging everywhere, even an extra bit of windage in the cockpit! Please let it be dry before bedtime!
Sadly the fishing has been abandoned, we are averaging 10.8 knots, it would have to be a pretty big fish to catch hold of the lure and then successfully bring it in, so no tuna tartare on the menu currently.
So another gybe to get in before dark, I have to say goodbye, wish us luck.
Love to everyone from all the Murrays & Dodds
Dee x