It's been a challenging day which started slightly ahead
of Pete's 08:00 shift. Robert knocked on the door to advise of a call that
had been put out, warning of a drifting boat. Four sets of eyes
scanned the horizon and kept careful watch. We passed within 10m of the
strange, deserted vessel and have pictures. We were grateful for the advanced
warning and it would have been impossible to spot had it been dark. The
boat was a greeny-black 8m fibreglass open boat, with two outboards. It had
a lifejacket attached to the stemhead. About 4 rows of seats but no sign of
people.
Wind was dropping so the sails were altered to better
effect. Then of course the wind picked up and we saw speeds of over 8 knots and
were racing through the waves. The words "There is no such thing as too much
wind only too much sail!" came to mind and so some hard work to revert back to
make things more manageable.
Yet another call about a drifting craft and this one was
eventually spotted about three hundred yards away. The radio net is a huge
advantage in these situations and it's actually quite amazing
that, in such a vast ocean, one can come so perilously close to these
things, and twice in one day. We were, however in the corridor between West
Africa and the Canary Islands, a common migrant route.
Wind dropped off again and we were lucky to see 4 knots.
However a reassuring check of nearby ARC participants confirmed
that we were all in the same boat - please excuse the pun! As I write this
we are now back up to speeds around a desired 6 and we are hopeful for better
things to come. I now have my sea legs and can enjoy eating, so life's good
again. Bee