Day 7
Like most of the last 3 or 4 days the weather during the day was fine with strong winds 25 to 30 knots and sunshine as we head south west to avoid an area of light winds developing to the north of us. Most of the crew rest or read books but some have taken the opportunity to do a little washing and at one point the boat resembled a Chinese laundry with washing hanging off the side rails. Given the swell at times all we managed was an additional rinse cycle as opposed to dry.
Evening meal was courtesy of Steve and was a great British classic sausage and mash which went down well with everyone. Steve, under strict instructions, managed to use the last of the carrots in the mash and I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t more of our out of date vegetables thrown in along the way.
After a good meal we rounded it off with real coffee and Green and Blacks chocolates (thanks to Angie my wife). The evening started calmly but it didn’t last long.
We had our first real Atlantic Squall at around 10pm with winds changing from southeast to northwest in an instant and gusting in excess of 40 knots. I woke at 10.30 pm to find Emily taking control following a crash gybe and shouting instructions to a very wet and shell shocked crew. Things were coming under control by the time I got dressed and in the strange calm all I could hear was David snoring as he blissfully slept through the whole thing.
The rest of the night saw a few more squalls and more rain as witnessed by John who came below completely drenched.
The sunrise brought with it blue skies and lighter winds.
Considering the night we had and the way in which Emily and Stephen seem to take the whole thing in their stride we were somewhat amused to see Emily refuse to go on deck until the flying fish clear up team had been on duty. Big seas, strong winds…….no problem…….small silver fish a whole different issue.
Graham