Endeavour of Cork - Day 5-6 Thursday-Friday

Thursday 6pm

What to say about today??

It's still grey - grey sky, grey sea. Not as warm as it had been, but not cold. If the sun isn't splitting the stones in Cape Verde when we get there, there will be an inquiry!

We gybed three or four times, and furled and unfurled the headsail - that being the primary news of the day will tell you how quiet it's been. Both the wind and sea have moderated to almost comfortable levels so we've been sailing along with no accidents or spills (yet) and even managed get the books back out. Three of us have finished the ones we started on the plane down to Gran Canaria, so the book-swapping has begun.

Still no wildlife bar the odd gull and lots of flying fish, which I noticed today are all, without exception, flying north. Do they know something we don't?

Most of the fast-ripening fruit was chopped up into fruit salad today, which was a lovely treat after a lot of pasta and bread-y meals.

There's an air of "nearly there" about today - we're about to tip under the 200-miles-to-go point soon, and conversations have begun about what we'll do when we get there. Tip of the tongue answers to the question "what are you most looking forward to when we arrive?" yielded one "stable ground", one swim, two showers, one bar, and one joint bar/shower (whichever is more easily accessible when we arrive!).

We're all also dying to get some news, having had a blackout for five days now. How on earth did Trump get elected? Is the teacher's strike still on? What's happening with the Gardai? What else has happened while we've been at sea? What's the weather like back home? What's happening in Strictly Come Dancing? (ok, that might be just me.) I hope the wifi is good in CV, because it'll be in hot demand!!

There are a whole new set of challenges now that we've switched over onto starboard tack - the boat is tilted the opposite direction so we're now falling into the sink instead of away from it, and if the loo door isn't properly closed and locked you're in danger of being pitched out the door head first into the galley with your knickers around your ankles! In the cabins, the beds are divided by lee cloths (basically vertical hammocks tied into the base and ceiling) so that you don't fall down on top of your cabin mate when the boat pitches over. Whoever is on the high side has a distinct advantage in space terms, as the lee cloths have "give" in them, and the walls of the cabin most definitely don't - we'll just have to try to ensure we spend equal amounts of time on each tack over the course of the trip!!


Friday 10am

There's a spring in everyone's step this morning! We're 114 miles from Cape Verde, so well into our last 24 hours at sea. And the sun has come out again - it's still cloudy but a lot brighter than the last couple of days.

Overnight was a moderate sail, no dramatics. It's slightly unnerving how the wind has blown steadily from the same direction, at the same speed +/-5kts, for days on end now - for those used to the vagaries of Irish weather and endlessly varying wind speeds/direction/temperatures, this is eerily unchanging. Supposed we'd better get used to it!

I was on the dawn watch again - it was murky, and damp, and very very dark. There was one faint white light in the far distance which we assume to be another ARC+ boat, but no sign of the actual boat now it's daylight.

The flying fish went into hari kiri mode overnight, and dawn revealed the cockpit and decks littered with whole fish and bits of fish. Dermot was having a nap after his watch and one appeared right beside his head on the port deck, and was ripe for the taking without so much as a line or a lure - but he mananged to flop himself back overboard before Dermot could nab him. However he was fired up now, and out came the fishing gear, and lines have been trailing out the back since sunrise. A few dolphins swam past to see what all the fuss was about, and thankfully didn't take the bait - imagine the scandal if we'd arrived in Cape Verde having had Flipper for dinner!!! No fish caught yet, but Dermot remains determinedly optimistic!

Anais is busy decanting water from the large 6L bottles into small drinking bottles for ease of use.

We also started the search for the Cape Verde courtesy flag, and of course don't have one. A thorough audit of all the flags on board was made, as it's also been requested that we "dress" the boat when in port as it adds a festive air to things. Of course you can't just fly any old random selection of flags to make a splash of colour - there's a prescribed set of flags and a correct order front to back, and having sorted everything out we've discovered that out of 40 flags, we're missing 18! However we do have two Munster flags, one Tipp flag and an amazing array of sponsor flags (most of whom have gone out of business) - but I don't suppose they'd be much appreciated!

We've just done Radio Hour, and heard that 10 boats have arrived already!

From a very cheerful Endeavour, over and out!

--