April 22, 2008 - Mid-day 22 Tuesday April - What's for supper Mum?

36o  00.0’ North  36o  25.0’ West

Fish hooked today – 2
Reels stripped of all their line by big fish today – 2

Hey – thanks for all the fishing advice, even the fish seemed to have paid attention.  We now haven’t got any fishing line left – 2 fishing rods (Poles) will appear on e-bay shortly.

The Devil makes work for idle hands – It’s raining, no wind and we’re bored.  By mutual consent (i.e. 3 on 1) we’ve decided to torture Jim – We’ve told him that the propane gas is getting low so he can no longer boil the kettle for tea.  If the boat is found abandoned with blood caked walls it will prove this was a bad idea – hopefully I will be able to report fully tomorrow once the spare gas bottle has been ‘found’. (M)
……..

520 NM to go!

We covered 170 NM yesterday with the spinnaker up, so today is certainly proving frustrating. For the first time in the trip we are motoring and the marine diesel engine makes a right racket. On a positive note, I (J) did win the daily sweep stake yesterday for mileage covered so am now completely in tune with the rhythms of wind and tide. We’re still looking for that elusive 200nm day but it won’t be today for sure.

Had my coffee surrounded by leaping dolphins this morning, ho hum.

We are now on to our last ditch attempt at actually hooking and landing some dinner. Mark has resorted to dangling a bit of string out of the back of the boat and has utilised a clothes peg to inform us of a catch. We are at serious risk of being outsmarted by a fish.

Everyone on board seems obsessed with salty dog shipwreck stories. For inspiration we have an account of rounding Cape Horn in a 39ft ketch. For sheer terror we have the story of the Nantucket whale ship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a Sperm whale in the mid-Pacific, inspiring Herman Melville to pen Moby Dick. The crew spent 93 days at sea in rotten whale boats with the survivors of the ordeal eventually turning to cannibalism. When finally rescued they could not be parted from the bones of their dead shipmates which were sucked dry of marrow. Apparently this was acceptable practice in those days. We still have ten days worth of supplies left which we are all hoping will be sufficient, gulp!

Personally I am likely to loose it much earlier if I don’t get my cup(s) of tea in the morning. Cannibalism would be too good for anyone who stands between me and a lovely cup of Earl Grey. I though I should just give the rest of the crew a heads up on that one.

With time on our hands, we are debating turning south for Morocco. Perhaps we should spend one night in Casablanca, then on to Cape Verde before doing the round trip back to Martinique? Perhaps the Atlantic isn’t big enough and I wonder how the Pacific would be at this time of year? My blow up globe (courtesy of BNP Paribas – btw well done Tim) is making it all too easy to dream up whole new adventures. Life at sea is really quite good; it clears the mind and puts things in perspective. Who cares what Gordon Brown is up to or if Hillary Clinton saved the world from certain destruction, single handed, whilst we weren’t looking? Give us wind and sea and tide and that is all we need. Oh yes and a nice hot cup of tea…..

(B – When Jim says “we are debating … etc” I feel that I should clarify that this doesn’t include me … don’t worry Lil … I will be home in plenty of time … although I do agree with''....

MORE PHOTOS  PLS CLICK ON ... http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Yacht.Jem/AtlanticCrossing

April 23, 2008 - Untitled Comment

April 23, 2008 - Have you lot not realised........

April 24, 2008 - Morocco