A.1 and other nautical terms

We have now been three days out at sea .The weather has been very kind
to us and yesterday we had one of those rare days where we could raise
all our canvas to the wind .The wind was coming nicely of the beam ,the
sea was fairly flat and with assistance from the current we were
touching 8 kts with only 10 kts of wind .This lasted till about midnight
when the wind subsided and we had to drop all our sails and start our
iron maidens ,two 56 HP Yanmars which we run one at the time to conserve
fuel.We are having slight headwinds at the moment but still doing
5.5kts with one motor running at a low 1600rpm .Late tomorrow we expect
another front to reach us which will once again assist our progress and
perhaps afford us the opportunity to throw both headsails to the wind .

Last night it was Eduan's turn to prepare supper and we had some of the
fresh yellow tail baked in tomato and onion with slices of potato.Served
on a bed of rice it was rather nice.Tonight it will be Steven's turn to
show his skills and we will be waiting in abated breath.

I'm also planning to do a daily quote from an interesting little book
called Salty Dog Talk - The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions
.Authored by Bill Beavis & Richard McCloskey and obtainable from
"Cruising Connections" ,their website www.cruisingconnections.co.za .I
will start alphabetically and see how the expressions relate to daily
experiences out on the ocean . The first expression -

A.1

From the famous classification 'A.1 at Lloyds' which described the
construction of a merchant ship as being of the highest
quality.Coincidentally the same understanding is given today to what was
formerly the highest qualification of warship - first rate. A 'First
Rate' ship was one with 100 guns or more spaced over three decks.
Admiral Nelson's VICTORY was a first rate ship of the line.Another
expression with the same meaning is top drawer.This came to be used
because the ship's documents and important papers were always kept in
the top drawer .

Our official boat nr is A1183.I have no doubt that we have an A.1 boat, an
A.1 crew and that we will have an A.1 journey.The wind has shifted a bit
during the last four hours and the barometer has climbed from 1011 to
1015. At 7am I woke Eduan to assist with raising the main and
headsails.Full main and full genoa we can carry up to 15 kts and we did
fine for an hour or so. The wind started building slightly and touching on
19 kts.Steven woke up and we pulled in a reef in both sails and we can
easily take 20 kts of wind with this configuration.Just keeping a close
eye on the wind, the rigging and the seastate.Currently we are sitting
comfortably at 8kts,our COG is 321*T and our position
28*17'S/013*07'E.Seastate is fairly flat and we are once again making
smooth and fast progress on a close reach,the wind sitting at about 10
o'clock.We have covered 450 nm in three days giving us the average we are
hoping for.

Time to put a lure out again as we have same space in our freezer and a
long way to go.Go you well till next time.

Captain Paul