The middle of the Atlantic ocean is a rather remote place. Even albatross, which apparently do little else than fly around all the time, don't bother venturing out here much. So you can understand our surprise & excitement when we spotted a small fishing vessel steaming toward us on port side yesterday afternoon. As isolated men's minds are prone to wander, the crew were soon voicing thoughts like "Where on earth are they from?", "Are they trying to catch us?" & even "Maybe they're Somalian pirates?".
Isolation is no means of protection from us harming ourselves though & we've had a few more minor mishaps. The main sheet came flying across in a rather timid crash gybe last night & ripped the GPS & wind instruments off the helm - again! This time The Destroyer (as it is fondly known) took no prisoners & our primary GPS is now properly deceased. We do learn eventually though & have relocated the rest of the stuff.
Dirty Dorris the diesel engine was acting up again today, but some TLC from Skip & a fuel filter change got her purring happily again. Our only standard size Spinnaker left has been taking some strain over the past week of non-stop use & the patchwork repairs are getting rather extensive. This has the advantage of offering the crew a creative channel through which to practice the craft work as Saths has almost perfected the cutting out of circular patches & Murray has decorated the Spinnaker extensively with smiley faces, angry fish & Pac-Man action scenes.
Weather prediction say we're in for some really light wind on Sunday/Monday. It's going to be a seriously psychologically testing patch this deep into the race & the sailing will be frustrating & hard work!
POS: 23 21'S, 16 49'W
Hey there Me2Me!!
ReplyDeleteRegards from Durban, Westville! This is Sandrini signing in for a short convo with the brave sailors!
Today we read out your amazingly entertaining blog to family and friends, at Kimmi's farewell party (She is leaving to CT ironically)... We all laughed as we read about your fantastic adventures out at sea!
Firstly, this blog is sooooo funny!! We wanted to know who is blogging your journey cos really... you could really take this up full time ;) Our guess was that its Mike... are we on the mark?
Lol Uncle Sathi the 'almost naked chef'! Sooo did NOT need to know that! hahaha TMI boys, TMI ;) Good to hear you guys managed to make yourselves some decent food out there in the big blue though! I'm guessing its been a while!
Btw, Mr blogger... where's our blog for today? come now gentlemen... you are slacking :P Whatever shall we do without your hilarious stories? Also, the tracker is not working today so we are lost as to your whereabouts. Hopefully you are scurrying along in fine winds and good sailing weather! (Trust me, Durban weather is so HOT right now, you'd rather be there... right?)
So Kimmi moves to CT tomorrow... big day for al of us here. Hopefully she'll get to catch up with you guys when you touch down here on South African soils again.
Good luck boys! We pray for your safety and good fortune! Also for more than a few spectacular moments along the way!
Much love!
Sandrini
(And, of course, everyone else here in Durban!)
P.S Tell the Somalian pirates we say 'How you doin'?!' ;) (That one is for all the Friends fans on the boat haha :D)
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