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Lydia - Leg 2 Day 5 - Sunday at Sea Chilling



Touching wood frantically, we can report that the repaired spinnaker boom is
still holding. The wind has picked up a little and the headsail rig is
steady most of the time with the sail shake that worried us so much
yesterday happening much less frequently.

Whatever the upshot of the fishermen's strategic rethink it has at last
yielded results. The dulcet tones of the reel on the skipper's new rod
paying out was initially mistaken for a sailing instrument alarm but minutes
later a 3lb dorado was onboard and had died a swift death, courtesy of a
good measure of the very cheap and nasty hooch bought in an off-licence in
Las Palmas, poured into its gills. No one is prepared to taste the alcohol
but we can certainly endorese its fish-killing qualities!

Less than 1 hr from sea to pan the fillets, fried in olive oil and covered
in lemon juice, complemented our Mediterranean salad lunch beautifully.
Being blokes we had to have some ham as well of course!

Clearly light-headed after his success with the rod the skipper offered to
cook supper and 'Chilli Chan Chan' (Buena Vista Social Club was on a loop
during its preparation) was wolfed down in the cockpit tonight. Its possible
that Lydia may have done one of her periodic lurches when the fearsomely
powerful Cape Verde chilli wine was added to the pot. And as a result we all
have mouths that feel like we're recovering from dental work.This far from
civilisation a bit of slurring and dribbling is not really much of a
problem.

The horizon and the plotter remain bare. The 1100 high frequency radio (HF
SSB
to the radio hams out there) round up of the fleet, who are so fitted (many
just have a satphone; Lydia has both) revealed that most of our rivals are
to the north and a little way behind. We passed the 1/4 of the way point at
dawn this morning and if the wind continues to pick up as is forecast we
should continue to make good progress.

Weekend over we're primed for another gruelling work week tomorrow.


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