18:55N 028:02W
Good evening Bon Homie's!!
So we've continued on our course of 245 degrees today. Close hauled to
the wind at 50 degrees apparent with approx 15 knots apparent all day
and mostly averaging about 8 knots. The wind shifted South today as per
the forecast and sea state was relatively calm with a moderate long
swell. Tonight the wind has dropped off to 10 knots and shifted SSE, sea
state calm. We had a little squall about an hour ago but nothing major,
it livened us up a bit actually! We've just put the code 0 out again now
as wind has dropped to 8 knots.
We can see Quokka 8 (racing class) on our AIS 10 miles ahead of us and
we are slowly hunting them down. We're hell bent on catching them
now....that's the current mission!
In other news I've been bitten again so today the sheets in our cabin
got washed. Only thing was the washer/dryer doesn't work at sea so we've
now got wet sheets hanging everywhere in the galley as they didn't dry
outside today. I've gone through another can of Insect spray in an
attempt to further erradicate the blighty. Hopefully that's the bugger
dead now!
We also got the ARC fleet update this afternoon. We're sorry to hear of
the loss of Noah and also hope the skipper of Victoria gets to the
Verdes to get some plaster on his arm. The update also mentioned that a
number of yachts were diverting to the Verdes to refuel. Considering
we've still got four full tanks and only done 30 minutes on the engine
we're chuffed at our progress!!
Tom's cooking bangers and mash tonight and we're going through our back
catalogue of music on iTunes...some classics coming out. Ocean Colour
Scene, The Verve, Cast, Oasis. Spirits are high!!!!
FISHING UPDATE: We've been practising our "Fish On" procedure like a MOB
drill!......Heave to and scream "Fish ON!!!!!" The day started well with
a fish on at sunrise. We heaved too and got on the reel going but the
bugger slipped off the hook. It was a beast as well...probably a Dorado.
Our Spirits weren't diminished and we put the biggest lures we had out.
We were going MASSIVE! We had nothing for the rest of the day and then
at sunset the line went again. We heaved too and got on the reel. It was
another big Dorado, beautiful fish about a metre long. We reeled it in
to within 1 metre of the gaff and then it slipped the hook AGAIN!!!
That's four times now! So we thought we'd better inspect our weaponry
and on closer inspection the hook was rusty as hell and wouldn't pick a
hole in a wet paper bag....we've since renewed our tackle and will
continue tomorrow unperturbed. Tomorrow its going to happen!
Pic of the Day: Tom cooking up a storm in the kitchen and all our wet
bed linen!
So thats all to report today. Out for now.
Captain Hindsight
PS. We've just had Tom's Bangers and Mash. It was worldy and needed a
special mention!
m_GOPR0102