Uno - Day 6: two fish with one lure!

Flying fish have officially made their appearance! They look like flocks of birds skimming across the water in huge groups, every so often. Also this morning we noticed the antenna at the top of our mast was moving around a lot & wondered if it might be affecting our AIS, which has been playing up every so often these past few days. We had been working on the theory that our LED tricolour light on top of the mast was interfering with it (not that it ever had before) but seeing this meant we might have another cause. Nothing for it but for the captain to go up the mast! So in a few metres of swell, with 8kts of wind, 350nm off the coast of Africa, we took the sails down, turned on the engines & hauled him up the mast. We used all the safety precautions we could, and it was a quick & successful mission. The connection was checked & antenna cable-tied in place. We were all VERY relieved to have him back on deck! Not sure it’s solved our AIS dropping out every so forever, but we chatted with Sofa So Good last night on the radio, and they said that their AIS is being affected too so it’s probably more likely atmospheric conditions. Good to know! In the late afternoon we caught a mahi mahi, and once we had it on board, it coughed up a half eaten flying fish!! That was weird. Rich made tacritos (taco burrito high bred) for dinner which everyone loved and then it was on to night shifts. All 4 adult crew are on the rotation now (100% healthy!) so we will all be getting more sleep - yay! We’re heading for a full moon in a few days so the night shift is particularly awesome at the moment.. in the midst of trying not to doze off….