Tha' she blows...
Rhapsode
Sun 21 Nov 2010 13:11
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03 16 N 24 00 W
We are the gods' plaything it seems.
It matters not how far away the big clouds are or
in what direction - they come for us. Yesterday, for example, we had a cloud to
the east of us. A big one, overly full with rain. I was quite sure that it had
left it too late to catch us (at our breakneck speed of 3.5 knots). But the
cloud had tactics - it sent out an emissary - a seed to plant in a cloud closer
to us so that it would develop in time to catch us with a heavy downpour and a
sharp increase in wind. It did.
And if that wasn't enough another cloud in quite a
different direction speeded up and came straight down the radar bearing line. An
exact collision course. It's timing was perfect as well - it arrived in
time to combine with the other cloud to produce a torrential downpour and a
force 6 wind.
I haven't yet worked out how to make offerings to
the god of the sky. Clearly Neptune doesn't share his booty with
anyone.
Whales!
Yesterday afternoon a pod of whales stopped by for
a chat. They first appeared in the distance off the port beam. Tails in the air
and blowing. We watched for a while until they dived and then watched some more
in case they came back. They didn't so we gave up. Then we saw them only 30
metres or so ahead. They were so close I had to take the wheel (from the
autopilot) and put it over to starboard so as to avoid hitting one. We all had
visions of the whale that breached off South Africa and landing on top of a
boat. Not for us we thought. Too far away from land to swim for it.
This morning we are still in the doldrums and the
gods are still toying with us. There is blue sky all around us but a big
grey one is sitting atop us. As far as we can tell it's travelling at exactly
the same speed and on same course as we are. I fear we may have to take
with us all the way to Salvador.
Happy sailing.
P, M & A
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