THE DAYS ROLL BY
Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Tue 17 Jun 2008 15:12
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47:06.80N 25:01.10W
Noon-noon run: 173 miles!
BEST SO FAR! (Average of 7.2 miles an hour)
What a difference a shift of pressure zone
makes! Ever since the wind filled in at 0800 yesterday, we have been
enjoying a beam reach in a virtually steady wind - the log records only one
instance of putting in (and then taking out agin 4 hrs later) 4 rolls in the
genoa. We are currently continuing to enjoy a SSW 3 (sometimes 4), often
giving us over 7kts through the water. Hence the excellent 24hr run.
Who cares about the grey overcast sky and slight drizzle?
With a gentle sea from the same quarter, life on
board has been very easy. In fact, so easy that there has been a
consipicuous amount of snoring during the day from those off watch.
Clearly a case of another hard day at the office! And nothing needed
mending over the same period...but maybe we should not tempt fate with thoughts
like that!
There has been plenty of wild life. Last
night we had boiluminescent dolphins again; not as good as a few night ago, but
impressive all the same. The Portugese men o' war continue to make the odd
appearance - with the sea temperature down to 14.0C you'd have thought it a bit
cold for them - and we had (another) unidentifiable bird trying to land on our
mast head. The poor little thing made umpteen attempts, but I can relate
to his problems in synchronising his movements with a 60ft long pole waving
about the place. He eventually thought better of it. And we were
treated to a 3 minute display by a whale about a mile off the port
quarter. Plenty of blowing, and his dorsal fin was clearly visible on
several occasions - looked rather like a killer whale's to our untrained
eyes.
Sarah continues to work her magic in the galley,
despite mainly only having tinned products to work with. She
says the result is a mess, but it all gets wolfed down. Last night we had
a fruit salad to follow the rice-corned beef-peas-kidney beans combo. This
morning seems to have been shaving day, and Sarah luxuriated in a salt water
hair wash - hanging over the stern while the boat surfed at 8kts! Phot to
follow!
So far we have drawn a total of 120 litres of fresh
water since leaving Bermuda 16 days ago. So that works out at 7.5 litres a
day for 4 people, or 1.88 litres per person per day. Salt water does for
all washing, cleaning, dishwashing and much of the cooking. We planned for
3 litres per person per day, so well inside our bogey. Mind you, that 100
litre/minute shower we were shown on a vessel in Hamilton sounds very
attractive!
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