19:43.91N 34:56.29W
 DAY 10 (Monday 23rd
Nov) First, an apology. In
yesterday’s posting I may have left you with the worrying impression that we had
decided to head due east. I meant, of course, due west. Heading east would take
us to Senegal and almost certainly ensure Sinan last place in the rally. Sorry
for the confusion. Monday morning boiled
down to a series of failed attempts to deploy the spinnaker. The strength of the
wind was always going to make it difficult, but some of our mistakes were
schoolboyish and we all felt a little chastened (and knackered) by lunchtime. It
proved to be a largely frustrating day in terms of pace as a
result. We toyed around with a
poled-out genoa/main sail rig for most of the afternoon, trying to wring out an
extra half a knot here and there. But progress remained sedate at best and so we
decided to relax as the day became cooler. Books were read, flying fish spotted
(the dolphins seem to have disappeared) and snacks were nibbled on as we poodled
along. Colin showed a bit more get and go than the rest of us, hanging off the
boat to take some cracking snaps (see picture). Then, a breakthrough. Not
with the sailing, but with the Scrabble. Kitkat had managed to open the box
which formed the game board (largely by just breaking the aforesaid’s clip
lock). We then enjoyed a traditional game of Scrabble: arguing over the validity
of certain words from the start; evidence of basic illiteracy among some crew
members; taking far too much time to piece out words like ‘but’ on the board,
and so on. In true British fashion, we failed to complete the game; Captain K
claimed victory (despite being 10 points behind me) and we ended up agreeing on
a four-way draw. It was the highlight of
what was otherwise one of our quieter days (we had Cup-a-Soup for lunch, which
about sums things up. If we could get daytime telly out here we’d have been
slumped in front of it). Tomorrow marks the
halfway point on our voyage. Sinan’s no booze rule will be relaxed for a couple
of hours for the halfway ‘party’ so we’ve all promised to wear life jackets and
to clip on safety lines. There may be singing. RWD |