Story - end of second night watch
Kalandia Web Diary
Bill Peach
Tue 24 Nov 2009 11:48
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Story
Just come off second of my midnight to 3am night
watches. Now am on standby for Dick Mander. I then have 9 hours off
until the easier day time watch. Bill is gently sleeping in the saloon as he was
on standby for me. I should wake him so he can go to bed as I will want
that space when I finish this. Night watches have been quite OK.
Last night was busier as of the 210 boats that left Grand Canary on Sunday
we could see several of those that had chosen to take the more southerly
route. Tonight however, no sign of anybody but I know they are not far
becuse you occasionally hear an exchange over VHF and that has a range of maybe
up to 50 miles if you are lucky.
What have we done with oursleves so far? Well
we have talked about food although we haven't eaten as much as our quartermaster
'colonel' Mander laid provision for. The next time consumer is looking for
the food which has been carefully stowed. We try not to open the fridge
too much or for too long as it consumes our electricity.
We had our first SSB network chat last afternoon
(Monday) and this will take place every day at the arranged time of 1400.
All is well and I am predicting arrival in 13.5
days time.
Liz
Its 4 am and all is well. the wind has dropped
during the day and we are now enjoying a steady down wind sail with just
the occassional lurch from a larger than average wave to keep us awake. Thats
not quite true, the electronic night watch keeper alarm goes off every 20 bloody
minutes designed to stop him (or her) on duty from going asleep, as if we would
zzzzzz!!!!
No Fishing on the first day, we were all too
busy getting over the start line but on the 2nd day I got all my tackle out
and tried to catch dinner. Nothing seemed to work. I tried pink, silver, yellow,
and red lures so either I'm crap at it, the fish are colour blind
or the boat was going to fast. Hopefully the latter probably the former.
Well the wind is forecast to drop a bit over the next few days so watch
this space. I must add, while on the subject of getting ones tackle
out, Richard has failed to get his unused rod out today!! Again watch this
space I'm certain he wont be able to contain himself much
longer.
Most people of my age go through a mid life crisis
but I have to admit to going through an identity crisis on Kalandia . At home
I'm Dick or Richard, on Chaika, my own boat, I'm Dick or Bigus and on
Kalandia I'm either Major, Colonel or captain depending on how well my
store keeping system is working. Imagine being Colonel one day only to be told
your Major or Captain the next, Still I'm enjoying it because I know where all
the night time snacks are kept.
We are all eating well and just before Liz's
excellent meal tonight I baked our 1st loaf of bread. The
aroma certainly got the gastric juices going. I just hope it tastes as
good.
Well must dash and do some ship and star
gazing
zzzzzzzzzz
Love to all
Private Dick
Looks like big blog day. Bill and Liz are
sleeping, its now 0800 and my watch which started at 0600. Still bowling along
at 8-10knts and have just noticed we have an email from Fizz, it will be nice to
hear hoow they are getting on. The Twissle rig is doing a great job and
allows us to sail fast downwind all through the night which I suspect will prove
to be a winner when it comes to who gets to St Lucia first. we are currently at
24d 35m N 20d 03m W, we have the coast of Africa 240 miles behind us (as it
sticks out a lot into the Atlantic!), Cape Verdes about 560 Nm South of us and
St Lucia 2,400 Nm WSW !!
With regard to Dick's comments on fishing, I would
remind him about the tortoise and the hare. I am keeping my tackle dry as his
has been wet and soggy all day and that's not attractive even to
fish.
I have been making an effort with the video, but
was let down by a rather cloudy dawn this morning. Soon be time for bacon and
eggs according to the rather strict schedule formulated on a complex spreadsheet
system by Major Mander, if anybody is interested I am sure Dick will be happy to
explain howit works, I promise you the minutes would fly by :)
Anyway, my stomach is rumbling and must go and
check Dick hasnt fallen of the back as he is tying on another new lure, patience
is a vertue etc...
Love to All
Richard
This morning I did the deck and rigging check,
which we do twice a day to look for chafe and wear and tear on the deck
equipment. In the 48 hours we have been underway we found some wear on 2 of the
sheets, so we moved the wear points. for a 20 day crossing this something we mut
keep an eye on all the time
We have just heard a radio warning for a vessel
indistress 60 miles behind us, we were not required to go back, as it would take
us 10 hours, but with all the other ARC boats, they have been asked to keep a
sharp lookout.
We are using a sail rig called twistle rig, which
means we use 2 headsails set each side of the boat and poled out with the
mainsail down. This means we can run directly downwind, whereas many other boats
have to go at a slight angle across the wind. It works well for us
Today we get position lists for all the boats, so
we can see how weare getting on!
Bill
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