Starlit nights and ships on the horizon
08 December 2012 | Atlantic Ocean
Dan Jenkins
Another few days on board and we're all well and truly into the daily routine, so much so that on arrival the temptation to get up every three hours during the night might be too much to resist.
It's been a reasonably relaxed few days but despite the relaxation there are always little jobs to be done and new excitements and challenges.
Provisioning and water are our first key balancing act. At the start of the voyage we divided up all our dried and tinned supplies into three weeks worth of food - helps resist the temptation to eat all our favourite chocolate biscuits at once! Fresh fruit and veg are hung in nets off the stern of the boat. As we approach the end of week two we are now all but out of fresh fruit and veg and our nets hold only a few drying oranges and half a cabbage. Dried & tinned food and frozen meat remain, but as the temperatures rise and the effectiveness of our fridge and freezer decreases, the need to eat it increases. Fresh fish is a true delicacy but, with the exception of a few tiny flying fish that did land on our deck the other night (too small to make a meal of though), we have had no luck catching one since our mini haul a few days ago.
Whilst we carry 120 litres of bottled water, essential to an easier voyage is our water maker - capable of producing around 60 litres an hour we aim to run it for 3 hours a day (it can only run when our on-board generator is also running) meaning that tasks we take for granted at home such as washing our hands or filling up a mug with water are still possible at sea - we even managed a shower on deck (albeit a cold one).
We have now well and truly crossed the half way point and are approaching the 1,000 miles to go mark (1,200 as I write). Our steady progress up to this point though was thwarted as we feared by a trough created by a nearby low pressure area. Having hung on to the wind for longer than we thought we might we were finally forced to switch on the engines at 5PM yesterday and motor through the night. This is allowed by ARC rules though there is a time penalty that we will have to incur for it (equivalent to the number of hours we run the engine for); arriving on time to see friends and family in St. Lucia is a more important goal though. Having picked up a slightly stronger breeze again this morning we are now back under sail and expect the winds to pick up again and swing round in our favour by Monday.
One treat that we were rewarded with whilst under engine last night was the most phenomenal starlit night we've seen since setting sail. The sort of sky that only those who are lucky enough to be many miles from any man made light source are able to see. The stars that we are used to just seeing when at home were as bright as the moon and millions more surrounded them. Phosphorescence surrounded the boat too making it seem like we were surrounded completely by stars.
This morning our biggest sighting for the last week - another ARC yacht, Enya, who we caught during the night. They appeared over the horizon in the early hours and by 11AM we were only half a mile away, close enough to for radio contact and the opportunity to manouvre closer to one another for some photos, snaps to be exchanged once we both arrive in St. Lucia. We had a brief sighting of dolphins too but sadly they were not in a playful mood.
And so we sail on, the 1000 mile marker and return of the wind both feel like major milestones for us all, we can then properly start the countdown to arrival time.
Canapesia