tasting of soya, mutton flavoured. Steven conjured up a shepherds pie,
smash, soya, mixed veggies and some fresh chillies. Surprisingly it went
down very well. Tonight it is Nick's turn to man the galley and we are
looking forward to see what he comes up with.
Yesterday we had an awesome day of sailing. The morning also started with
very little wind, but as I have learned over time, things change. When it
is going good, it will change, when the going is bad, it will change. And
so it did. By about 10 am yesterday the wind started building and it
wasn't long before we were sailing fast and smooth. We don't hope for
anything, we are thankful for what we get and make the most of it.
Otherwise our emotions would get the better of us.
Just after supper we decided to reef the sails a bit as we were on the
edge of our sail configuration and to sail like this through the night was
not necessary. Instead we opted for a little less sail, moving from 8 kts
to 7 but in turn we also had some peace of mind that if the wind got a bit
out of hand we were ready for it.
To save our batteries we also went into stealth mode,sailing with all the
nav lights off and all the instruments covered, pitch dark with no moon.
The skies were scattered with an amazing display of stars, planets,
galaxies,clusters, satelites and other heavenly bodies. One can get lost
when staring upinto the night skies with binoculars, similar to the
otherworldliness of snorkeling or scuba under the water. Time takes on a
different dimension and one realize how small and how big we are, how
incredibly blessed to be alive. Apologies for getting so into our
surroundings, we don't have tv or other diversions out here. It is both an
outward and an inward journey for us. We are free to explore the inner and
outer reaches of our minds,our bodies, our spirit and our soul. A bit off
the beaten tract and this is what sailing is about in many a way. The
incredible lightness of being. To be carried along by the breezes. I
should stop before this turns into poetry, so suffice to say,we are having
loads of fun out here. There is a lot more in this regard I would love to
share, but all in good time.
At the moment it is a overcast, just enough wind to keep us moving but it
should build during the course of the day as it has the last few days. It
seems that we will arrive at St.Helena on Saturday, hopefully early.
Saturday night at Anne's Place, Sunday a tour of the island and depart
again on Sunday afternoon.That is the plan but it is not cast in stone.
We are 600nm from St.Helena and our position is 21*27'S/03*04'E.We have
moved into the next time zone which means we are 1 hour behind SA.UTC+1.Put
in another way, if it is 12h00 in SA it is 11h00 by us.
Our everyday expression with nautical origins for today is Back and Fill.
From the long and tedious operation of getting a large sailing ship to
change tacks in light or fickle winds when the crew would have to back the
fore and aft sails so that the wind could fill on their reverse side and
help to blow the ship's head around.Systematically backing and filling was
also used as a way of holding the ship steady in position.
Take care and catch up again on the morrow.
Captain Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment