Crew :- Stephen Hyde, Skipper
John Chesbrough
total distance to Nuie....585 n.miles
wind E ......................18 / 20 knots
Sea state.....................Moderate / rough
Weather.......................beautiful / high pressure, full moon and no clouds.
Distance travelled ........60 nm
Distance remaining.......525 nm
02.00hrs Sitting here on the transome watching the moon drizziling down the mast like champaigne down thr side of a flute. magic. We are scooting along westwards at 7 knots, and with the full moon, its almost like daytime. The Islands from here to Australia are supposed to be awsome, better than anything we have seen so far, if thats the case, then I will have no way of describing them, completly out of words.
05.20hrs We are sailing now for 12 hrs, and covered 84 miles,, average of 7 knots.
09.00hrs Wind has dropped off a little, so our average speed has been reduced to 6.85 knots, but its a beautiful day for sailing. We put out the fishing line, first short as Fats suggested and we already had it that way yesterday, and lots of other days, without success. Nothing... after 3 hours, we let it out 200m and of tonight, nothing, there must be no fish left in the Pacific. Actually, we read down here that the Worlds fish stocks are reduced by 2/3rds.. thats frightning.
Despite this frightning situation, its incredible to think that we ( Human's) are building trawlers specially designed to suck up the last of whats left in the sea. even to the extent that they are now sucking up thousands of tons of Krill, the Whales main diet, what next!
Lets get positive again. It's a beautiful day, and at least we are alive, despite " Fats " attempt to kill himself. Well he will be enjoying the hospitality of the "Tierneys" at their home for the next few days. By the way, I got the spelling of the " all black " player wrong, his name is Josh Kronfeld, and he also played for the "Leicester Tigers" for 3 years... how about that.
13.00hrs Lunch by skipper consisted of an Avacado salad. We took naps all day, and in between read about the places we are about to visit, Skipper also read a book on the great barrier reef , "A hundred Magic Miles" this book is a present from daughter "Sarah" and her husband Paul.
Starting at Mackay (where we will be going) it traces every nook and cranny for a 100 miles to the north, an area we will be covering.
18.30hrs Dinner was by John, and consisted of a chicken and rice dish, with plenty of Garlic to keep the Vampires away. We scoffed down a large bar of dark chocklate for dessert. yum yum...
20.00hrs A full moon again, rising up in the eastern sky, that will last for the whole night, just wonderfull stuff, and it makes such a difference to the night sailing......
Night watches :- 20.00hrs / 01.00hrs Skipper
01.00hrs / 05.00hrs John
05.00hrs / 09.00hrs Skipper
That's it for now.
Stephen Hyde (Skipper)