Mischief - Log Day 15: Neal features large all day

4 December 2017 0900 Position 15 deg 40.8'N 045 deg 06'W

We have been careering along under spinnaker all night in 10-15 knots of wind from the East. The waves make us roll a bit but the kite is allowing us the boat speed we have been lacking so we have stuck with it on the basis that we have fairly good visabiity and ought to be able to see any potential squall clouds coming and take appropriate action as needed. We have been hitting 8 knots regularly which is what we need to achieve and in doing so we have been overtaking a procession of yachts on almost precisely the same latitude as ourselves and we have been having to make course adjustments to go around them, quite bizarre in the middle of nowhere! One of these, on AIS but not part of the ARC fleet, was running with his anchor light on together with normal sailing nav lights - if had been playing golf it would have been the equivalent of driving off and not making the ladies tee the forfeit which would be to play the next hole with his trousers down.

We were keeping a close eye on the clouds and I pointed out mares tails to Dave, a harbinger of weather of some sort. "What does that mean then?", he asked in all seriousness. "No idea!", says I. "OK". Met lesson over and carry on.

I made some bread at 0700 this morning and Wendy was up to put the kettle on. However, she couldn't get the gas to work yet we had only changed the bottle two days ago and that for a bigger bottle. It turns out that we had a small leak in the gas locker and Dave changed over the cylinder for this our last bottle and tightened it all up. We are now being careful to turn off the gas at the bottle each time we use it just in case. The thing is that the port aft quarter where the gas locker resides is also the corner where the outboard engine sits full of petrol and which is also used by Neal who drapes himself over it to have his cigarette, quietly contemplating the world in general and spaghetti cooking times in particular. Leaking gas, a full petrol tank and Neal with a fag on make for an interesting combination in hindsight.

1110 and the wind is rising again after dropping off annoyingly. We are now achieving 8 knots and more consistently - this is what we have paid our money for, Yee haa! Neal though is not happy at all as he suffers from 'Spinnakeraphobia', a possibly justified aversion to spinnakers as being one to go on the foredeck when its become too windy for the kite to drop it. Who ever drops a spinnaker in good time I ask?

At 1200 ARC control tells us we have a matter of 917nm to go to St Lucia. I checked this with my chart at 915 and the chart plotter 920 so all fairly consistent. It also coincided with us having achieved 2,222nm on this trip. As part of Alf's Devonshireish tuition it would be stated thus: "We have arrived to two two two two nm too", but he is struggling with this advanced language skill as are the rest of us, other than Neal of course.

Mid afternoon the wind started dropping off again, again, although the boat is still achieving 6-7 knots. It just feels really slow against this morning's 8-9 knots constant. It is hot and humid on board this afternoon and is quite clammy the result of which is that Alf's budgie smugglers won't dry so we are being treated to the view of his underpants hanging on the aft guard rail for longer than ought to be necessary. Meanwhile, to while away the time I have been practicing knots, Wendy and Dave have been simply chilling, and Neal has been rolling cigarettes. This he carries out on his bunk in an industrial operation using his towel to prevent the bits of tobacco falling all over the bed clothes. Once he has finished he rolls up said towel and takes it to the guardrail and shakes it over the side, except today he had left his sole remaining lighter (reference earlier blogs regarding Neal's lighters) wrapped up in the towel. The horrified yelp as he realised what he had done and the plop as it hit the water, was priceless! He is now down to a borrowed lighter from Dave, then it is on to matches which without a doubt will be in use in the very near future. Hopefully not near the gas bottles.

We have had an audit of remaining foodstuffs especially after Wendy had gone through the fridge yesterday and chucked everything that had been opened - some chicken had leaked and she was being cautious for all our sakes, but it didn't leave a lot! But we have a tonne of spuds and a load of onions still by way of fresh veggies and these have lasted well generally. So I made a chicken stew with a load of bits and pieces, with one ultra hot dried chilli to numb the taste buds, served with you guessed it - potatoes, lots of them. Actually it was really quite good but very difficult to emulate....I've forgotten what was in it already. However, should it repeat on me later on I shall take notes.

So evening is fast falling, we have the spinnaker up still and will carry it through the night again. The alternative is to drop it and pole out the genoa which will be very slow in comparison. So fortune favours the brave and on we march into the night.


Hi Ho!

Charlie