Sailing around the world, ( presently at sea between ST Helena and Brazil )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sat 22 Jan 2011 07:11
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FRIDAY 21st
JANUARY 2011 ( Paul O Sullivan & Dave
O Rielly's Birthdays )
We had a good breeze for most of the night, our
first night at sea again,
However, around 06.00hrs the wind dropped off to 4
knots, so we had to do some motoring.
In fact, this went on all day, a good breeze,
followed by no breeze.
Its Paul O Sullivan's birthday today, along with
Dave o Rielly,
Paul is our son-in-law, married to our Daughter
Sarah. You will remember Pauls mother and father Collette and Terry ( Fr Terry
)
who crossed the Indian Ocean with us on " A Lady
"
Dave O Rielly is Skippers brother-in-law, he was
married to skippers sister " Deirdre" a dedicated mother, and artist, who always
had
good things to say and do for the down and outs.
However, many years ago, while Dave and Skipper
were in the U.K. as part of a boat delivery crew, some B****x cut a tree
down on top of her car and killed her
instantly.
What brought all this back is Aileens sister "
Michelle " plays the piano sometimes in " Ashford Castle " a real posh hotel in
Ireland
and where Bill Clynton and other famous people
stayed while visiting our country.
Anyway, a few nights ago, Michelle met by chance
Dave's sister Carmel and her husband Micheal who were staying at the Hotel
and Michelle was there playing the piano.They
had never met before and only by chance realised the connections after some
chatting.
How small is the World !
12.00hrs, we had travelled just 90 miles
since leaving St. Helena last night, real slow progress.
lunch was help yourself,
We spoke to " Wild Tigress" on ch 4B on the
SSB radio, but we were able to chat to them on the VHF also, as
they were only 20 miles ahead of us,
Later, skipper got out the refurbished fishing rod
and spent time putting on a suitable lure ( a plastic squid baite )
lets see if we can some fresh fish,
35 minutes later the line was set at about 100m
behind the boat.
By the afternoon, the wind had increased and
settled down, so Sham and Skipper got out the " Bag of fear" and hauled it
aloft,
when it set, it gave us an extra 1 knot of boat
speed.
Our overall speed is poor, but the conditions are
good, flat seas, warm and sunny conditions, a bit of sunbathing mixed with
charring,
and napping, what more could you want.
.....................a fish ?
Bang, wzzzzzzzz, wzzzzzzzzzz, wzzzzzzzzz, the
rod is bending under the strain of our next dinner,
this time we took our time to reel in the fish, at
first we thought it was a tuna, but eventually , after a long battle, it was
just a " Mahi mahi " a very plentifull and popular
fish in the tropics.
so out with the plastic sheet ( the operation table
on deck ) and the sharp knives and skipper began to fillet
this rather lean looking fish.
it became evident quickly why the fish was lean
looking, his insides were covered in eggs and worms,, yach, yach,
a sad end to our fish dinner, but we had to throw
him back into the southern ocean and wave goodbye as we carried
on our merry towards Brazil.
Meanwhile, we had to resort to plan B for the
dinner, Emily cooked a Lasagne for dinner and came with freshly made
coldslaw.
ohhh, it was all delicious, not a scrap left on any
plates.
We made radio contact with " Lady Lisa"
and " destiny " who had left St. Helena " at this stage, They had a
much better breeze than
ourselves. we spoke again briefly to " Wild
Tigress" before settling down for our second night at sea.
Around 9 pm a bird settled down also on our stern,
actually on the rib, a real comforting sign having a bird passanger for the
night.
Another beautifull night with a full moon and
partly cloudy skies, and the moon will be with us for the whole
night,
Thats all for now,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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