I have an upset stomach during the night and panic that was something wrong with the beef, but Mike and Jim turn out to be OK so I guess it’s just one of those things.
Just after I wake in the morning, what has started out as a grey day turns into a rainy day, and I discover a slight leak in the stern cabin toilet. Well, when I say discover, I actually mean remember, as I noticed it last time it rained. Still, it’s very slight and nothing to worry about.
All around us boats are getting ready to leave although some are still waiting for engineers and electricians and the such. It seems workmen are no more reliable here than in the Caribbean, or in the UK for that matter.
We have our time slot for the fuel dock and the marina guys turn up to release our stern lines just as the cleaned mooring lines arrive back. Well, I say ‘cleaned’; they are certainly cleaner than before but definitely not clean in any meaning of the word. They are certainly not revolting to handle but they will never be white again.
Mike has arranged our stern lines so that we can just slip them as we pull away from the dock, and the marina guys release the bow lines and we smoothly leave our position and head for the fuel dock. The boat before us was late arriving and another one pushed in ahead so we have no choice but to hang around, going backwards and forwards in a very small limited space. Then another boat tries to slip in between us and the one being fuelled and there is a slight altercation, gentlemanly of course, about who is next. I stand leaning over the guard rail in a low cut bikini, smiling cordially while I say we are actually next and they eventually concede defeat. Or maybe they recognise that glint in Mike’s eye that says “Sod off, I’m next!”
Refuelling takes ages. We need about 80 gallons to fill the tanks and one of the fuelling dock guys insists on doing it. He pops the nozzle into the tank and fills it oh so slowly. I wrap a cloth around the nozzle to prevent it all spurting out when it gets towards the top to encourage him to fill it a little faster but he just pulls it aside so that he can peer down the side of the nozzle to see and hear what’s going on. It takes over 20 minutes at this snail’s pace but eventually we are finished and we motor off towards the start line. Most of the boats are at anchor now outside in the bay but at 11.45 am they start to pull their anchors up and put their sails up. We do the same, putting both the main sail and the genoa.
A fishing boat comes screaming in while we are all in the middle of this, accompanied by a whole flock of screaming seagulls who know that lunch is on that boat! Other fishing boats nearby provide resting places for still more birds.
Photos: ‘The Birds’ – have they seen the Hitchcock movie?
We get a signal at 11.50, again at 11.55 then at noon we are given the off. We are probably in the middle of the pack, but yet again it’s not long before the boats separate and the fast boats pull ahead and quickly out of sight.
Photo: Over the line and the fast are boats already in the distance
Photo: I watch the jostling from the safety of the bow
Photo: Mike gets a better vantage point
Photo: Lots of lines to put away – where’s Jim when he’s needed?
We have lunch then I retire to my bed for a little sleep as I will have two watches tonight – the first and the last. I end up staying in bed all afternoon, alternating between dozing and reading. The sea is calm and it is cool in the cabin with the fan on and I am most comfortable there.
Mike brings me a cup of tea around 5 pm and I get up when it’s finished. We are treated to a beautiful sunset, then I make dinner. Just as I put the two gas rings on the gas bottle runs out. I only need them both on for about 5 to 10 minutes and it has only just got dark. Poor Mike has to don his miner’s light and go and furtle in the bow locker with a spanner.
Photo: A blood red sky at sunset
After dinner I start my first watch. The crescent moon is already up and we sail along at a very pleasant, albeit slow speed, just 4.5 to 5 knots but as we only have an average of 8 knots, that’s pretty good. The sails are pulled in tight so there’s no nasty flapping noises. All around I can see the lights of about 8 WARC boats, although when morning comes we probably won’t be able to see them at all without the binoculars.
I listen to music, do the blog and watch TV to wile away the time. For a while I lie on the cockpit cushion and gaze up at the sky trying to find a shooting star but don’t spot one tonight.
Our position is: 1 deg 51 min S, 81 deg 52 min W
Distance so far: 2092 nautical miles
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