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Webster - Light winds and moral dilemmas



Tuesday 20th May 2014 Position 34 48'N 49 27'W Noon run approx 110nm

It has been a slow news day today. Awoke this morning to a very light WSW breeze and the boat doing about 4 knots and reducing as the breeze drifted off. As the speed dropped below 3 knots we put on the engine for a while and dropped the sails to stop them flogging. The sun came out though and spent most of the morning sun bathing or asleep on the foredeck. We motored about 4 hours and then felt there was sufficient breeze to do at least 4 knots under sail which we did. As the wind had come into the south it was too tight for the spinnaker which was a shame, although Neal hates spinnakers and was making all sorts of reasons not to use it. Nature however prevented it by backing the wind. In this lighter stuff we are using the self steering which is a godsend as it does a much better job than we can manage, even Igor! Trouble is it uses power and that requires fuel to charge which we are rationing in case we do end up in giant hole, which remains a possibility.


We thought we would check the meat again this morning and found that our stewing steak had gone off and this worried Dave more than us given that it put him even higher up the menu. He has spent the day planning vegetarian dishes just in case.

We saw a few dolphin this morning as well as a number of Portuguese Man-of-war jelly fish, nasty things. We also saw a couple of turtles frolicking in the sun waving their arms at us so we waved back. It looked for all intents that they were asking for assistance but reckoned they could swim well enough so carried on our way.

Dave made a really good pasta dish this evening, rising to the baiting Neal has been giving him of galley avoidance; it was jut that the weather suited given that it is not rough out here today and the galley is not rocking all over the place. He even made lunch!

After dinner the SSB net, which had poor reception this morning and not so much better this evening, mentioned emails from Rally Control regarding the missing vessel Cheeki Rafiki which is in our vicinity. We had not received these until 2300 when we could get reception enough to download email over the radio. RC and the rescue coordinators were asking ARC boats to divert to sail through the search area, if feasible to do so. We came around onto a northerly heading to make for the search area perimeter some 90 miles to the north but because of he light SE wind were only making 2-3 knots with the rig crashing around again and don't carry sufficient fuel to motor this far north off our rhumb line. We decided that it would take too long to get that far north sailing in these conditions and so came back onto our easterly course in the knowledge that the wind is due to back into the east and we would have another attempt then. It is a real moral dilemma as we dearly want to join in the search but don't feel able to. Certainly if it was us in trouble we would want everyone to join in regardless so are feeling a bit down about it.

We shall see what the night brings forth.......


Charlie

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