Let me introduce John V Casson. John is my Canadian friend from my Glencore
days who is still working on the El Aouj Project – my old iron ore project in
Mauritania. He was our Study Manager and when I left he moved into my old
position as Project Director, the Glencore rep so to speak in the JV Company.
John’s great attribute for our journey is that he absolutely loves sailing and
has done so for most of his life. John has a lovely new boat on Lake Ontario a
Cabot 36 that was stretched to 38 feet. Anna Ella Tess and I had a great visit
with John and his fiancé Monika and two lovely little dachshund puppies in
Toronto last December. John has sailed on the Atlantic many times, the
first to Bermuda that is another story. He has also undertaken a previous
ARC crossing on a big catamaran, so he knows the way......
John is also an electrical engineer so he is our chief electrical trouble
shooter for Beltana right now......a few jobs below.
Bilge pump rewiring and testing
Fault finding on the gen set battery charger
Fault finding on our Auto Pilot – we have some spurious trips on the unit
when under load and a motor charging is not operating
Relocation a switch for the deck wash pump
.....so John is really earning his keep, which is great as he is a self
proclaimed non event in the galley!!
Last night we enjoyed a lovely Turkish Chicken and eggplant casserole with
pasta on the side, one of Anna’s great cruising recipes. A little red wine and
an early night.
Our rosters we have implemented seem to be working pretty well. An
experienced skipper told me about this one at on of the many ARC parties we
enjoyed in Las Palmas.....so it was worth attending.
During the day it is free for all, we are mostly awake, although many crew
need a little day time nap at some stage to make up fir the long nights.
Breakfast occurs as crew stagger from their cabin at any time and make
themselves bowl of fruit (while it last) muesli and yogurt, but today we
enjoyed....
WoW we just caught a great Mahi Mahi fish – and yes it was caught on
the skippers old rod, with an old lure, that he just renovated a bit this
morning!!! Poor Johnny! Beautiful fish, great filleting by Johnny, my plan
is a little sashimi for lunch entre followed by a fish curry!
Back to rosters, we then start the formal roster at 10PM with two
people manning the helm on deck at all times, tethers and life jackets always
used of course, and we do four hours on and six hours off with a fresh person
starting every two hours, and we keep that going for the 10 hours until 8am – so
a crew if five is just perfect!
Bye for now
Skip Jono