Mischief - Log Day 16: Fortune no longer favours the Brave, places to put flying fish, Alf does Tenko

5 December 2017 0600 Position 15 Degs 48.3'N 047 Degs 31.3'W

Last night I finished by suggesting that fortune favours the brave. May I kindly retract that statement as a load of codswollop! My log for last night goes: "2400 Position.....BANG!". Literally on change of watches at 2400 carrying the spinnaker in 15-17 knots East wind and maintaining a constant 8-9 knots boat speed (which we have been looking forward to and desperately need to get to St Lucia by Saturday), the spinnaker guy parted company with the sail with an almighty bang, and Dave was soon shouting for all hands on deck to sort the flailing spinnaker. This also recalls my comments yesterday regarding Neal's 'Spinnakeraphobia' - prophetic words indeed. So, Neal and I were up on the foredeck under the light from the deck floods (really effective) dragging the beast down into the forward sail locker and setting the genoa out on the pole; at least it had given us the opportunity to gybe onto port tack which we have wanted to do for several days but have always found something better to occupy our time whilst the kite has been up. This also coincided with the wind dropping yet again so not only were we under powered (the Code 0 is shot), the wind drops to boot - it's like kicking a man when he's down! St Lucia is putting up the barriers to entry early on.......

Dave and I had come up on deck early on yesterday evening despite it not being our watch as there was a curious vessel on AIS displaying 'Restricted in its ability to maneuver'; we are in the middle of the Atlantic in 5,000 metres of water so it can hardly be constrained by its draft, or at least I hope not! We worried it may be towing an oil rig or something equally nasty as we were flying along under spinnaker at the time so we too were a bit restricted in where we could go, hence we were on deck. Turns out it was a massive Russian factory ship named Professor Lebercorff, probably fishing tuna going round in slow circles and generally just getting in the way.

So by 0300 we were moving along on port tack at 4-5 knots with the chart plotter ETA shifting out our arrival to Sunday/Monday. Coupled with a bit of sleep depravation I was finding this all very frustrating and was in serious risk of a sense of humour meltdown. However, a flying fish came to the rescue and landed obligingly in the cockpit having head-butted the cockpit table. Now yesterday I had made mention of Alf's laundry and in particular his pants which were STILL hanging on the after guardrail. Wouldn't it be funny should I conceal said fish in a pair of budgie smugglers thinks I, after all we are on a boat named 'Mischief'! But I thought it best to share the joke with Skipper Dave first only to be met with snoring. So change of plan, I would deposit the fish on Dave's belly instead, even better! But the fish smelt a bit, indeed it verily stank to high heavens, so I thought better of either alternative and begrudgingly chucked it back over the side, otherwise it would have been Alf's pants or perhaps Dave himself who would have had a similar fate. Why do flying fish stink so? Must be a defence mechanism, certainly I wouldn't eat one!

Neal and I were back on deck at 0930 packing the spinnaker again and replacing the sheets and guys for a port tack hoist. Once up the speed returned to 7+ knots - we reckon we lost about 20 miles over the ground by the incident last night. The matter of fraying spinnaker sheets is a real issue though - the one that snapped was caused by friction in the jaws of the pole or around the snap shackle attaching the guy to the sail. We noticed a bit of wear last night but failed to do anything about it, trusting to luck maybe, but the forces are tremendous and any fraying soon leads to failure of the sheet.

Despite all the problems today has been a fine day for sailing in sparkling sunshine and hot. Dave decided to put on the watermaker so that we were able to have showers (not that we need them of course, ahem), so he says to me, "Isn't it great to be able to make your own water on board" to which I managed to convince him that I could do that as well and without using a generator and making a load of noise. "Would you like to try some of mine?" Apparently not as it hasn't been passed by the management. Actually, the water produced from the desalinator is really good.

Alf has been wearing a Swedish sun hat which when matched with his Jack Nickleson sunglasses makes him look for all the world like the Japanese Captain of the prison guards from the TV series Tenko, or for that matter the camp leader in Bridge over the River Kwai. One feels like one needs to snap to attention when he looks at you or else risk a thrashing from his bamboo cane!

So there we are again, contemplating a light wind (its dropped yet again!) sail into the night with the spinnaker up and as we draw nearer destination thoughts are starting to emerge as to whether in a few days' time we shall cross the Finnish line/English Line or the compromise, Ending Line. With about 720 miles to go we will have time to argue on this one and may go to a phone vote.

Hi Ho!

Charlie,