Day 4 / 18:00
Rhapsode
Wed 17 Sep 2008 17:51
|
31:38:00N 11:13:00W
17th September 2008.
I never thought how grateful I would be to the
inventor of shock-cord. Without it to fix the engine we would have been going
backwards today. The wind has been non-existent and we have now been
motoring non-stop since yesterday morning. The sea has been glassy with
not a breath of wind and even the Canaries current had got confused
and was actually against us for most of the last 24 hours. As I write a whisper
of a breath of wind has arrived from the northwest. Odd that since the forecast
was for light easterlies. But this was from the Spanish Met Office who also put
the Canaries to the northeast of the Sahara on the morning forecast! Still, we
won't quibble - the genny is up and is looking hopefully to the
northwest.
The current has also sorted itself out and is now
in its' proper place pushing us gently southwards.
My morning wake-up calls are beginning to show a
pattern - on Monday it was the alternator breaking that got me out of my
bunk, on Tuesday it was the tear in the sail and today it was the sudden
stopping of the engine. Michael heard a ping and thought that perhaps the
shock-cord had broken so stopped the engine. Quite right too! I woke up as the
engine revs came down shouting 'engine, engine!'
I later discovered that the ping was a locking nut
on the helmsman's seat falling off!!!
No wonder the crew staged a mutiny when confronted
with an irate captain who had finally worked out that he had been dragged out of
sleep's sweet dreams each day by a contrived morning
crisis! Would it be too much to ask to be brought a nice
cup of tea in bed and told 'everything's fine dad, why don't you stay in bed for
another hour?'
The morning swim was sensational. The water was so
clear and blue - perfect visibility and the temperature was just right. If we
hadn't a deadline to meet (A celebration dinner washed down with the
finest of Lanzarote wines on Friday night) we would have stayed in longer.
I had a look at the chart afterwards and saw that the nearest land was two miles
directly beneath us!
It's been a tough afternoon. There was nothing else
to do other than laze out on deck in the sunshine. Michael says I could become
professional since I do it so well.
I think I'll get that plank out again, sharpen
my trusty cutlass and throw some bait to attract the sharks, the cheeky
wotsit!
I wonder whether they will like a tin of beans?
They're certainly not getting my pork pies!
|