Hi, welcome back. Hope you have had a productive past 24 hours. Did you get
your chores done? Finish your homework? Did the project the boss give you in the
last minute get completed? Are you ready for the best day of the week—Friday. No
matter how many Fridays we have had, it still surprising how it all seems to be
a big surprise that there is another one so soon and we get so excited (or,
maybe it was just me).
In the spirit of it being Friday—grab that beer, G&T, glass of chilled
white, properly decanted Chateau something something or soft drink if you are
the designated driver...
We too would look forward to today, if we could remember which day of the
week it is. While it is true that we collectively have more “senior moments”
here on Libeccio than a Leopard has spots (get the clever connection- the boat
is made by Leopard...pretty smart, huh (for our american readers) eh? (for, the
ones slightly more north) don’t you think (for those in the UK) we do have a
calendar with our ROTA and so know which day it is, at least at the start.
TGIF, number 2- last week it was “Thank Goodness it Floats” and in
the spirit of progress we are dedicating this TGIF to Thank Goodness Izzy is
Flying.. speaking of which...
Well, you remember from yesterday’s note, that we had a right slap down
party celebrating our half way progress and were pleased with how it had all
gone so far. Izzy was flying gracefully and we were getting ready for the night
watches and were all prepared...ominously, the moon was hiding—never a good sign
when you are relying on it to light your path. Well, sure enough, just as we
finished the last preparations Mariner Mike (who was on watch at the time)
spotted a rather colorful splodge on the radar screen. After attempts to wipe
it off proved fruitless, it was determined in fact to be a, ready for the
surprise, a squall. No biggie says the captain (in his deepest, mariner type
voice), change course to something that will take us away from its path- typical
response, but, usually works. Mariner Mike snapped to attention and went back to
the helm to “make it so”. About 15 mins later Mariner Mike returns,
another rather larger colorful splodge had located itself on the screen on the
the other side of the boat. Looked kinda like a splodge sandwich with Libeccio
in the middle. Both splodges were converging on Libeccio and we had begun to
feel the strengthening winds- as you learnt previously, not necessarily a bad
thing; then the rain started to come down—at this time, with splodges this size,
it is portending a rather bad thing. The importance in these situations is to
not have a lengthy debate, nor it is the time to gain a consensus by recognizing
everyone’s different perspectives and feelings- it is time for true leadership
and a healthy dose of straight talking.. so it went like this, Captain, in a
squeaky pleading voice, “if you wouldn’t mind, it would be terribly helpful if
you could join myself and my colleagues on the trampoline to, as soon as it fits
your schedule, grant us the benefit of your assistance to place the
snuffer over Izzy so that she will not damaged, pray tell (I never really knew
what that meant)”. Suffice it to say, that soon there were the 4 of us
galvanized into bringing Izzy down in the pouring rain, on a trampoline that was
bouncing around with the wind steadily increasing. With the practices that we
have had so far, I am pleased (and just a little bit surprised) to report that
we were able to retire Izzy on the first attempt and no animals were hurt in the
process (?). Unfortunately, it was 9:30 in the evening and when the winds
died down about 30 mins later, we were left with no Izzy and had to revert to
plan B: the old favorite wing-on-wing using a reefed main and reefed genny- a
lot slower and a lot less comfortable.
There were two boats that were also sailing within 10 miles of us while
this was all going on and you can imagine what the changes in course and speed
must have looked like to them- presumably, it was not- “Hey, they must be having
a slap down party, lets join in”. Probably more to do with, I wonder how much
plonk they have had for dinner. This reminds me of one of the boats that we saw
being provisioned- suffice it to say that a very happy crossing was in store for
them- apparently, they had rationed the beer for each person down to a miserly
10 PER DAY!
Back to the main bit of rambling- just as mother nature/poseidon (or
whomever we are trying to keep happy these days) seemed fixated on making sure
that we knew who was boss for the second half of the trip, that same diety also
then delivers us a “brochure day” today. There seems to be a bit of a pattern
developing which is somewhat reminiscent of most peoples golf games. Stay
with me here—if every day on the golf course was pure misery- hooked shots, lots
of time in the bunkers, no time on the greens and endless balls being lost
(sound familiar anyone?) then it is unlikely that millions of people would take
up and stick with the game. That is why, every few shots you take, it actually
works out just about like a real golf shot—again, sound familiar? So, when we
think about the game, we remember the good shots and how our game would be
nearly scratch if we could just put a few of those good shots together. So here
is where it fits into sailing- if every day was spent soaking wet, playing dodge
squall in a moonless night with 2 meter seas, then not so many people would line
up to do events like the ARC. This is the clever bit, as a result, mother nature
throws in some “brochure days” of sunny skies, perfect winds, calm seas...just
to keep us coming back. Why? Because it would be pretty boring for them it the
seas were not filled with yachts for them to play with. I admit it is a bit
out there, but, i think there is something to this..
In any event, we have just enjoyed a most relaxing day with very good winds
and following seas- we have been able to catch up on our laundry, clean up the
boat some more and still have time for deep introspection (or going to the book
club as Mike claims)— better known as having a snooze.
Culinary corner: Jane has once again shown the boys how to do it with the
Crossan family traditional pork chops and rice complete with carrots, celery and
peppers. Very filling considering the pork chops were the same size as they
served Fred and Wilma Flinstone at their drive in during the opening credits (by
the way, was Bam Bam anybody else’s fav character?). For pudding she treated us
to baked apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg and walnuts.
Mariner Mike has just yelled out: A Bird! ... it is a reminder that even
though we are around 900nm from the nearest land (the Verdes) we occasionally
see birds skimming across the water. While we can figure out that they are
looking for food,what we can’t figure out is why they are so far out and how do
they survive. Perhaps one of more research oriented readers could help us out
with this (hint, Roger).
In the last 15 mins the wind has picked up—you know what is coming next-
and we are now running away from the nearest squall—hoping to get enough space
between it and Libeccio so that we do not have to take down Izzy. So begins the
nightly game.
We will leave it there, enjoy your Friday,
Best wishes,
The Crew of Libeccio
ps. we have had some communication issues today which allows us to send
email,but on receive them. Apologies for not answering your note today if you
had sent one.