Saturday Nov 28th - very early in the morning
Where do we begin, well apparently we have to start from the very
beginning, but 6 billion years is a bit too far, so how about last
Sunday; should do nicely:
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SUNDAY - Start Day
All set, we're even ready on schedule, even if the schedule did
leave a lot of room for being "late". So time for a coffee, and a
relaxed chat with a few well-wishers on the dock.
And now it really is time to get going, don't forget to make sure
that lazy-line has sunk so we don't wrap it on the way out. Good,
right, ok... all set... a nudge of astern, now ease those stern
lines a tad, umm... we're easing them right?... maybe a tad more?...
hmmm... a what? Oh for crying out loud... how did THAT line get
around the damn prop!
Well, Hannah would like to say she saved the day. Well if she, or
anyone else on board could hold their breath for more than 10
seconds or so, then they would have . Plus Hannah is a pretty
buoyant person, and that is no help at all when you're trying to cut
a filthy encrusted lazy line off the prop. So to the rescue...
Super-Carl, the man of the moment! And before you know it we're
free! (and Las Palmas is short one lazy line I'm afraid).
OK, back to the plan, and this time no spanners, wrinkles or other
impediments and we're off.
The start, well let's just say ... we did, start that is, not quite
on the gun, but not too bad at all, and most importantly clear of
any trouble. Which is where we stayed for the rest of the first day
- clear of trouble and traffic while making good progress to the
south to clear the big rock they call Gran Canaria before turning
west on our chosen route.
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MONDAY, TUESDAY
Great wind, not too rough (but definitely not calm) and we're
trucking along nicely. Staying away from the traffic cost us a
little, but now we're making it up, and the forecast looks good for
us too, plenty of wind and in the right direction.
Meanwhile everyone is settling into life on a long passage, getting
used to the little things you never notice when you live life on
solid flat ground like the fact nothing is safe if it's not nailed,
tied, glued or otherwise secured.
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WEDNESDAY - even earlier than very early
Guys... is there a reason all the sails suddenly started flapping?
and why are we no longer going in the right direction? Oh I see,
well yes, that would explain it, in which case perhaps we should
steer for ourselves while we work out exactly what happened.
There ensues a brief interlude where stowage is rearranged, stowage
bins are shuffled, until eventually, from deep down in the bowels of
the hole most people would call the "cockpit locker", but is more
often referred to as the "man-cave," there comes a muffled "ah, well
gosh, jigger" (or something close to that).
Everyone waits expectantly until the mutterer reappears and
explains... the hatch in the garage (yes we do have one, doesn't
everyone?) appears to have developed a tiny leak which has managed,
with the inevitable help of the famous Mr Murphy, to drip into just
the right place to cause the autohelm to fail. Oh and guess what,
its inaccessible to any human without opening the hatch!
So a new plan, we need to chuck the rib out of the garage, so we can
fix the hatch drip (leak), and to do that we need the sea to be a
LOT flatter than it is here!
So south it is then! At least in the direction of the Cape Verdes,
if not all the way there (it was starting to feel a touch cool this
far north, anyway).
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THURSDAY, FRIDAY - The long trek South
Still heading south, and Hannah is still wearing layers! (there's no
pleasing some people). Though the wind, and the sea, are easing, and
we're getting closer to Cape Verdes and shelter if needed. We even
saw a fellow ARCer crossing our slightly odd path;
A couple of days of drying (slowly) for the autohelm drive, more
shuffling of plastic crates, the occasional curse, a new fuse, a lot
of stretching - and bingo, the autohelm works again! Well, score one
to us! Chilled melon to celebrate this evening!
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SATURDAY - A slight change in the weather
It's supposed to rain like four days a year down here - so this must
be day four! But just so nobody feels too bad for us everyone is
still in shorts (except Hannah, but even she is down to 4 layers
now).
Wind's dropping too, and now we're all eyeing the sea, hopeful now
that we can get this fixed before we reach the Cape Verdes.
Got to run for now; it's Porridge O'Clock, and as we all know...
well you simply can't put porridge off.
More later, cheers for now
Porridge Chef
djcceebe