Gwendoline - 6. day at sea

S/Y Gwendoline M - Atlanterhavskryds
26. november. 11.50 UTC.
Ombord Lene, Bente, Annette, Maiken, Oliver, Orla og Kim
Position: 20.53.359N 20.53.359W (Yes - it is indeed the same pos for N og W)

Yesterday was the day, where everybody really found their "Sealegs" - which dramatically improved the general spirit on board. Especially Maiken made a noticeably change, as we got our well known laughing, smiling, hardworking Maiken back from the sea of nausea she had been swimming in for the past five days.

It was also the day, where almost all of our green tomatoes riped - some even so much we had to throw them out. Lene also took a closer look on our avocados, which also had riped, as well as many of our red pepper fruits.

So the question was what to do with 10 kilogram of ripe tomatoes, ripe avocados, and enough red peppers to serve a small army?

Lene had to through out one avocado, and another one was sliced into smaller pieces, sprinkled with salt and pepper - and then we had a feast on the aft deck with these little delights.

About the tomatoes Bente said: "Well - we just cook a delicious tomato soup. We take 2 parts of tomatoes and one part of onions, slice and dice them, cook them and blend it. The we add some spices an voila - we have a meal."

This basic soup was then taken to a whole new level, as we added leeks, red pepper fruit and Danish bacon. To pull everything together, we added a portion of egg noodles - so the soup became a stew. Healthy, nourishing and with a fantastic taste.

Yesterday was also the day when we got our second hit on our fishing lines. This time our equipment did not break, and the whole crew worked together in the effort of reeling the fish on board. Some were handling the sails, some the direction, some the fishing hook, some the fishing net on a stick, and some reeling in the fish.

When our catch, after half an hour of hard work was close to the ship, it turned our to be a 1,5 meter and 20 kg large shark. There should be a picture of it on the log page. Oliver observed that we had hooked the shark so well, that we had no other choice than to cut the line and loose the lure. Sad - because now we only have one good lure left for the remainder of the crossing.

The ever changing wind has also forced us to try out a lot of different sail settings. For a long period of time, we sailed the traditional genoa and main on a port side tack. A lot of the time, as the wind was so weak, the genoa collapsed and we had to reduce it in order to prevent it from ripping itself on the rigging.

Then we tried to set the genekker, which forced us to take an almost due south course, and not very much gain in speed. Finally we decided to set the goosewing configuration, with the two foresails poled out to each side, and the main in the middle for stability. This configuration enabled us to sail with the wind coming 180 degrees from the aft, enabling us to set a course to the north west corner of the Cap Verde archipelago, where we hope to catch the trade winds to St. Lucia. This configuration also gave us one knot speed increase with the same wind, and a shorter distance to go.

This morning we met a large 200m freighter. They came towards us on our starboard side. On our chart plotter we saw that it would pass in front of us in less than 300 meters. Oliver called the freighter on the VHF, and asked if they could pass us with a larger margin. They replied that they would change their course to port side, and pass aft of us. And so they did - nice people, and much less stressful for us - not having a large freighter passing closer than 300 meters in front of you.

Right now we are doing 5,5 knots - really nice comparing to the 3-4 knots the last few days. We also clearly feel that we have moved to the south, as the temperature is gradually rising - day and night.

NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH

Tomorrow - the 27. of November 2016 - Lene and I (The Admiral and Captain) are celebrating Silver Wedding Anniversary

We have not yet told the crew. Any vessels in our vicinity are welcome to give us a shout on the VHF - but please keep the secret until tomorrow.

Over and Out from
S/Y Gwendoline M
Atlanten