Hi!
Apologies, but, we had some communication “challenges” so you will have
received a few of these at the same time.
We hope that you behaved yourself reasonably well on Friday night and that
there are not too many stories to be told about your (mis)behaviour. In fact,
you can tell us- we won’t tell anyone else
.
We behaved ourselves very well- we would like to say that it was out of choice,
but, with the Rottweiler stationed at the liquor cabinet, it was an easy
decision.
So, grab an orange juice, coffee, couple of advil... what ever you need
and lets chat... ok, it is a bit one way, but, we feel your presence is with us
each nautical mile of the way.
Before we get to the normal ramblings, we wanted to give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to
Mrs Vidriero and her 2nd grade class who are tracking our progress and learning
about various related topics along the way. We hope that they have fun following
our track and look forward to their questions. We sure hope we can answer them.
Don’t laugh, second graders are like seriously smart these days.
In the last blog we left you with a bit of a cliff hanger—there we were
trying to outpace a squall... (cue scary music)... so, be honest now, how many
of you thought that we would get caught? ok, so about half of you. Where was
your confidence in the finely tuned machine that is Team Libeccio? Well, as it
turns out, it was correctly placed- we did manage to outwit the first few of the
squalls, but, there were an increasing number of them and the winds were picking
up, it was getting dark... so, we brought down Izzy. I know, this is the
same story line as yesterday and the yesterday before that (is that even a real
day?).. but, it is the truth. It is the equivalent of Ground Hog Day, but, in
the middle of the Atlantic, on a boat and at night, not the day—so really, not
at all like GHD. In any event, we then reverted to our normal sail plan which
you should be able to recite in your sleep, so I won’t repeat here (if you can’t
remember, just read Friday’s log its in there).
After a rather rolly, noisy evening with the neighbors holding a “new
wave” party, we were all very surprised to see a nearly clear sky when we
emerged from our respective staterooms (pretty posh, eh). We have had a splendid
day- arguably, worthy of the second page of the brochure- this time with spotted
cumulus clouds dotting the horizon, the sun rising majestically from the east,
winds perfect for Izzy to play in and seas that, well honestly were not as good
as the rest of the parts of the day- but, we’ll take what we can. The winds
remained constant and with no, squalls, known going forward as “it that can not
be named”(clearly copying from Harry Potter), we had a very relaxing day.
You may be familiar with the old adage (amongst old sailors) that to cross
the Atlantic as we are doing from the Canaries, you should sail your boat south
until “the butter melts”Seriously, apparently it was close enough to be true in
the days of the square rigged sail boats. Jane, a competent navigator in her own
right is not content to slavishly follow convention, how ever tried and true it
may be—she is, in a word, a maverick. Today, she demonstrated that, in fact, it
is correct to sail south until “the dark chocolate melts”. For anyone who knows
Jane, will know that this test would never have been done with MILK chocolate
and that only DARK choc would suffice. Why was she doing this- other than to set
a new standard for navigation? It was integral to the making of some Peanut
Butter Truffles which she did this afternoon. The recipe calls for melted choc
and so Jane improvised by putting the choc in a bowl, placing it on the seat in
the lanai (remember this is the seating area in the front of the boat) and then
watching as it melted. The choc gets poured over a mix of smooth peanut butter,
icing sugar, butter and then that resulting ball is rolled in chopped roasted
peanuts. Yum, yum- we had one for mid afternoon snack and then for pudding with
dinner. We loved how Jane managed to put a new spin on an old sailing adage and
look forward to the next one (along with what ever tasty treat accompanies it).
Speaking of culinary accomplishments, tonight it was Bill’s turn to work
the kitchen magic and he delivered with “Merry-nade pot roast” complete with
potatoes, carrots and onions (on the side as not everyone—ehem, Mike, loves
onions). Bill is the proud recipient of the first annual Libeccio Most Improved
In the Kitchen Award (couldn’t think of a clever enough acrony—any
suggestions?). He was given this because, prior to this trip, Bill didn’t know
where the kitchen was in his own home (ok, slight over statement) as his lovely
wife Marianne is gourmet cook and so there was no need for Bill to become wise
in the ways of food preparation. However, because we share the food preparation
responsibilities, Bill had to come up with at least 4 different dinners that he
could cook while on the trip. True to his approach to all challenges like these,
he bought some reference materials (a book on one pot dinners) and then
proceeded to trial them with the family. Apparently, the tests were successful,
so much so that no one on the family died and his sons took the left overs with
them the following day. So for this effort and attainment, Bill deserves
this award. We have not asked him to give a thank you speech as it would likely
drag on for some time....zzzzzzz
Just prior to dinner, we heard a voice on Channel1 6 on the VHF calling out
to the “sailing yacht”.. well, we could see one other sailing yacht on the
horizon but we didn’t know if they were the ones calling us or if there was
another yacht we couldn’t see, calling the one we could see—a little awkward,
but, you get the idea. In any event, Jane picked up our VHF hand mike and
answered. Turns out it was them calling us. Like us, they had not seen another
boat for days and wanted to have a chat. They were also on the ARC and we
had met them at one of the sundowner parties. They too have eschewed the
excitement of the Northern route for the relatively safety and smoother (?)
southern route. We discussed the route we each were taking, our perspectives on
the weather outlook, fishing tips (as Bill had caught 2, he was the resident
expert), our watch systems, how to fly a parasailor like Izzy (they had one as
well) and then our longer term cruising plans. It turns out that they are at the
beginning of a multi-year jaunt around all sorts of places, perhaps including Oh
Canada, and Vancouver. While we were speaking, it reminded me that, with the
exception of those that do this for a living, the other almost 1000 people are
in the middle of very big adventure and for many, such as the couple we spoke to
on the VHF, this is the start of a new phase in their lives. Pretty cool,
Slightly less serious, whenever I get a hold of our VHF hand mike, it
reminds me of the hand mikes of the CB (Citizen’s Band) radio that was all the
rave in the 70’s- 80’s—long before mobile phones, this was a way for people to
communicate to each other while in their cars and was adopted by truck drivers
who took clever names for themselves such as Rubber Duck. In fact, this era was
documented in a film by Burt Reynolds called Smokey and the Bandit.... if you
haven’t seen it, don’t bother looking it up.
For those of you that have bravely read this blog for the last week and a
half, will note that it has been very silent on the progress of our fishing
effort. After scoring a couple big hits, we have not enjoyed the same success
most recently. We would like to report that we are indeed receiving signs of
interest but have not hooked another one yet. So, how do we know that
there is life under the sea that is interested in our little fishing expedition?
It is by the fact that in each of the last two days, Bill (our resident expert
fisherman) has lost his lures, despite the fact that they are attached with 60
pound wire leader that is attached to the 200 lb monofilament line. That must
have been a very big fish to cut though that. Once again, better to not have to
landed this one. On the other hand we have been eating so well
that Bill thought we might like to go vegetarian for a day or two. At
least that’s the reason he gave for catching seaweed all day today.
Apologies for stepping away like that—since I was last at the keyboard, we
have cleaned up the dishes (my turn), get out the night stuff, recharge our
“house” batteries, confirm our course and “standing instructions” (kinda like,
what the helm person should do if..... happens), DECIDE TO KEEP IZZY FLYING and
go to bed not really expecting to be there very long because we no doubt will
have to take Izzy back down. So, its 5 am, I am on the 4 – 7 am watch today...
its a whole lot better than the 1 – 4 am watch I had a couple nights ago.
In any event, getting to the helm and Izzy is still there. While it may be
a surprise for you, it wasn’t for me because i knew that I hadn’t been called to
the deck to help bring her down. What I hadn’t anticipated was that, because our
course is a whole lot of west and a bit of south, the full moon is
essentially lighting our way forward right now. In fact, it is
backlighting Izzy so that it is very easy for us to see if she is holding her
shape or if she is slouching one of her “shoulders”. Izzy is roughly the shape
of a triangle and so a shoulder is the top part of the sides leading to the
pointy bit at the top of the triangle- clear? I didn’t expect so, we’ll talk
about this later. As all young ladies are told at some time, Izzy is
supposed to stand straight-ish and not round her shoulders—posture is very
important. Being able to see Izzy so clearly is in stark contrast to just
a few nights ago when we didn’t have a moon, it was raining and we had to use
our search light to see anything. Our winds are almost perfect at 14 – 18 knots
and we are making good speed—remember, its for a boat – of 6 – 7 knots. The seas
have once again let the picture of perfection down and are a bit choppy- so we
have had to adjust our course so that our stern (that the back of the boat, not
someone who is unhappy) is facing the waves and we kinda surf down them. The
idea is to minimise the amount of rolling that we do at night to ensure a good
nights sleep for our shipmates. So we think this would be fitting as a night
time brochure page.
Do you recall why Sunday is such a special day on Libeccio? Come on—dig
deep.. we mentioned in last week’s log... what are we continually fixated on..
other than wind, other than waves, other than Izzy, its FOOD, getting warmer, so
what food do we get on Sunday.. yes, its Mikes bacon and eggs, with toast. A
simple fare but something we are all looking forward to.
I might just wander over and “accidentally” wake Mike to see if I can get
mine a bit early—its only 5 am and he has only just got off watch at 4-
surely, he still awake.....
Have a great Sunday,
The Crew of Libeccio