La Contenta, or LC as we fondly call her, slipped lines yesterday with her
crew of four: Skipper Dave with his wife M-C, Master mariner Ewen and
Singer songwriter Cal. We were bewildered with the provisioning, bedazzled
with the send off from Gran Canaria and now we are becalmed.
Together we have packed every nook and cranny of LC with enough provisions
to supply the ARC fleet, enough spares to build another boat and with a medical
kit to enable us to patch, repair and rejuvenate our every square inch! We
are joined by two saxophones, one guitar and some spare sailcloth to paint
on. We are just missing one thing – wind!
We are becalmed.
We have no wind from either the north, south, west or east. We are
aiming to get to the point in the fleet where we can see boats other than our
three distant travellers. Nothing is moving. Becalming has its
advantages – we have had a swim off the boat in the flat glassy ocean, leaving
bubble trails as we dived into the clear blue water.
Yesterdays departure was emotional. The fiesta on the key side
dancing in unison with the butterflies in our bellies. What lies ahead of
us? We hope that its not survival in a life raft drinking turtle blood!
We have just had our lunch: A glorious feast of everything that had
started to deteriorate in the heat. Cal produced a superb omelette bulging
with tomatoes onions peppers and accompanied by freshly squeezed juice. We
are bewildered that so much has changed so soon.
We sign our from our first log having moved nowhere at all for hours.
Hope is on the horizon – we hear on the SSB net that if we can just move a
further 7 nautical miles we may get a gentle breeze. At this rate that
will be Tuesday!
Dave, M-C, Ewen and Cal.
Becalmed, Bedazzled and Bewildered.