We are running out of ways to say “No Wind, Flat Sea” in the ship’s log.
‘Dead calm’, ‘barely a breath’, ‘hardly rippled’, ‘oily swell’,' ‘painted ship’
etc etc ... all have been used ad nauseam and suggestions would be gratefully
received.
In all other respects the supplies are holding up well. Some bananas are
waiting to become banana cake and avocados to transform into guacamole; the
lettuces are on their last legs and the beans and tangerines are finished. But
most other fruit and veg – in particular potatoes, cabbages, peppers, fennel,
aubergine, oranges, apples, and even some still-green bananas are soldiering on.
Our breakfast fruit salad and lunchtime salads are now decided by what has
reached what stage, but they continue to be delicious, and we are all becoming
experts at bread making.
Unfortunately, the water we took on in the Cape Verdes is a distinctly
dodgy colour. It is fine for cooking, tea, coffee, and washing (only half a
basin each per day, and a shower every fifth), but we are washing up in
salt water and drinking bottled.
Don’t know if it is anything to do with the care we took to wash and dry
all the fruit and veg, but we have not had occasion yet to find out whether the
Canaries cockroaches are friendly (with acknowledgments to Dangermouse – or
rather Penfold!)
Having headed south and west in the hope that this is where the
trades will settle first, we are now having to consider how much more motor
sailing we can afford. Not just because we will need to conserve fuel, but
because we want to avoid the ignominy of being relegated to the Motor Sailing
division. No danger of that yet, and we console ourselves with the thought that
the people who decided to hole up on the Cape Verdes are having a long wait.
Iain has found a cunning way of transferring the daily position reports
onto a plot. This shows that we are not the furthest south of the fleet, but in
the minority. Who knows who will turn out to be right.
As I write this, the wind has risen to all of 10 knots, the genoa is
coming out, the engine is off, and we are speeding along at all of 5 knots. The
silence is wonderful, long may it last!
Jonathan