Mischief - Nearly Half Way

We are nearly halfway to Santa Marta having left St Lucia just 2 days ago. All is good on board and the sailing is great, C increasing our 24hr run record to 185 miles. We are going to pass quite close to the ABC islands off Venezuela. The weather is sunny and hot and so far today no squalls. When the squalls do come the wind doubles in speed and the rain is biblical.

Last nights dinner was a triumph of fish cuisine Rick Stein would have been proud of. Mick prepared a delicious starter called Sashimi, raw, chilled Mahi Mahi served with soy sauce and wasabi. This was followed by Mahi Mahi parcels cooked for just ten minutes in foil, containing olive oil, salt, pepper and on a bed of onions and garlic. This was served with boiled potatoes and a Caribbean salad. Needless to say there was no fish left for today as every scrap was eaten, delicious.

During the night the wind increased so we furled away the Code O and were making good speed on a poled out genoa and a full main. Wendy and I had a minor mishap during the night when the outhaul broke. It took a few minutes to put the pole away so we could head upwind and drop the main. We managed to lash the sail to the end of the boom and re hoist the main and put the pole back out. We managed this without waking Trevor up which just shows how well he sleeps after a belly full of fish. Having thought about it afterwards I should have just put a reef in the main and carried on which would have been much easier. You live and learn even at our age.

Fishing lines went back out at first light and not long after the line was screaming off the reel. Another good size Mahi Mahi. A small discussion took place as to whether we should put it in the freezer as we had lots of fish to eat yesterday. It was soon decided that fish is best served fresh so Trevor knocked up a Ceviche, raw fish in vinegar and salt and pepper, served with salad. We continue to fish but I have made a Spaghetti Bolagnase incase nothing. Anyone would think we are all obsessed with food but this is not true because when we are not eating we quite like fishing and sailing a bit.

Cheers David