Dolphins for breakfast and luminous jelly fish 45:46.88N 009:44.30W
Lady Corinne
iain and gaynor macalister
Thu 13 Aug 2009 09:41
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I mean they're with us again,those slender
lithesome creatures that love to frolic and play underneath our bowsprit, we
seem to have been adopted by a huge pod of dolphins who come to the boat,
I feel they're the same ones that keep coming back as there is the tiniest
of calves (?) that is always beside it's mother as they race ahead of
us and then go round for another fly by,writhing and twisting and turning. I'm
writing this early as we're heading towards another weather system which is
sitting on the horizon and beckoning for us to enter and sample the delights it
has on offer. At the moment we are sailing in a clear patch with blue
skies above and Gainer is taking pictures of rainbows,and Tristan who is still
in bed. All around us are clouds with thick dark bases and
streaks where the rain is falling. We slowed right down last night (so if
you think walking speed is slow imagine half that) as we aren't in any hurry to
catch the gale that is predicted off Cape Finisterre. We will update our
weather info when this blog goes off but we are hoping that by slowing our
southerly progress it will have blown itself out and be moving off by the time
we get there - Enshala! As for the luminous green jelly fish isn't it just
amazing what something will do to make itself look unappetising, I wonder what
they eat I mean you glow in the dark, there are lots of them and you see them at
night as they glide past the hull in the foam created by Lady C's
progress. I have been a bit concerned that the electro-hydraulic self
steering gear we had fitted has been working very hard to keep us on course and
I feared that we might soon be in a critical power situation as I don't
suppose the solar panels are producing much at the moment,they were fitted to
soak up the warm Caribbean sun. You can hear the groan of the pump
as it makes constant adjustments to the helm and it sounds a bit like we have
locked Martina Sharapova in the Lazzerette (the back section of the boat where a
lot of the gear is stowed, it is actually 2 aft berths and Tristan was
convinced we were going to put him in there to sleep) However last night we
managed to reset the response which was set @ 5 and step by step we got it down
to 1. The result is a huge saving on power and no difference
in helming accuracy which is far far better than I can achieve when I'm at the
wheel. Jenny (a dual purpose generator which we can lift up to use as a
wind turbine when we are in port or at anchor but when we are under way we fit a
propeller to it and it is towed along behind the boat from a special bracket to
generate power) still keep's pumping out the amps with quiet efficiency and
the batteries are in good shape. Alex ,thanks for the reminder, the night
before last was calm with broken cloud and long periods where I could see clear
skies around me, I came on watch at 3 and laid down on the cockpit seats and saw
6 shooting stars in total. It is so good to be able to get all of
your e-mails and when we connect up to send and receive we eagerly await to see
how many files are coming in. Just to respond to a few:
Sara -
I am so so sorry I didn't give you the departure
text I seem to have managed to send to everybody I know - well done for using
your initiative and it was lovely to hear from you yesterday- even if you did
sound a little bit batey(understandably if both your parents have effectively
run off and not given you a forwarding address Oooops I hope you'll forgive
me.Give our love to Simon and tell him that we all hope his new role works out
really well for him. Lots of love to you too Zara and
please make sure you give Yogi a big Birthday hug from me.
Uncle Keith
Don't know if you're following this but if you are
a very Happy Birthday shout out from us all .
Pam & Vic
Welcome aboard, very glad you found us and thanks
for printing the blogs off for Derek & Vicki
Robin
Always good to hear from you,and yes I was talking
rubbish,apparently it's a giro rate compass, does that get me off the hook? Also
just so you can confirm beyond any doubt that I am the worlds biggest numpty -
when you asked me about my downwind rig just before we left don't you
think that would have prompted me to ship the spinnaker pole?
Sandra
Thanks for the shout - your Zombie experience
sounds as surreal as this one - hope it was good for you
Alex
Heads up on the shooting stars was great and please
send me a txt on the baccy as the next time I turn my phone on we'll be on
land. How was TCP and has the new guy started yet?
Right I think we might just have some heavy weather
sailing to do - I'm sure we would all get terribly bored if it was all
light winds and blue skies now - wouldn't we? Wish us well and we'll be back
soon - don't forget lots and lots of e-mails please
xx
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