So after fatefully asking Neptune for ‘a bit of wind’ in our last blog
entry and Gaetano even more dangerously saying to Alison during dinner
that “he’d like to see a storm very much!” we sailed straight into a bit of
weather. Luckily it wasn’t a storm, but it was still a pretty dreary
twenty four hours of strong squalls, grey skies and heavy rain. Clearly our
sacrificial offerings to the Gods had not worked or more likely our cheek had to
be aptly rewarded!
But despite a wet day and night for most of the crew we managed to have
some fun with silly principal among them was how we’d missed a trick by not
getting Pringles to sponsor us. During bad weather it turned out to be the
favourite snack (lunch) of choice for the crew on watch. Owen was
delighted to discover that his sea berth was right above a leaky hatch and on a
Port tack the leak ran down straight into his back. Many members of the
crew commented that it would have been a good opportunity to grab a shower but
surprisingly at 3am few ventured to strip off and take to the foredeck with
L’Oreal in hand much to the girls dismay – seven days on board a boat with five
men who haven’t showered you can imagine – even the Lynx effect has it’s limits!
Still, as is always the way with sailing, the winds calm and the skies
always clear and so yesterday we spent charging close hauled in 18knots of wind
on a beautiful sunny day with blue waves cresting to starboard. The good
weather brought a traditional Birmingham Curry out of Owen, the chef for the
evening, much to the dismay of Gaetano who had his heart set on the ‘much more
difficult’ Spaghetti alla Carbonara (much more difficult than pasta alla tomato
sauce as the eggs must be well beaten for several minutes before). Gaetano
in any event was causing the crew concern by not eating at all during the bad
weather and continuing the hunger strike for three full days until a Penne alla
Meatballs tickled his fancy much to our relief! Some might find it more worrying
that he spent a great portion of the dog watch preparing some of the females
nails to be polished and this followed a hair straightening appointment he’d
made with the same crew member in Bermuda. Clearly the ‘Italian Stallion’
or Don Gaetano as he is affectionately known is pulling out some Italian flare
with the ladies!
Other notable events of the last twenty four hours which probably should be
higher up this post include the discovery this morning that the hydraulic
tension for the back stay had broken. For those unfamiliar with sailing, this a
very bad thing. The backstay and the forestay play a relatively small part
in sailing – they keep up the mast!! Luckily the High overhead promised no winds
and clear skies today so a temporary repair has been effected. Good
forecast from Friday onwards should bring us nicely into the Azores on 2nd or
3rd of June (fingers crossed). All in all a typical few days of sailing,
some ups, some downs and a lot of ‘wow’ moments with sunrises to kill for and
dolphins off the bow most days. After a good nights rest the crew are all
in good spirits mainly because we cracked out the rum to celebrate the half way
mark to celebrate!
The crew of Aislig Bheag