Footnotes from Water Music

There seems to be some dispute going about the overall fairness of the "guess the 24 hour run" game that we play every day. Bitterness seems to be displayed by the self styled oppressed bosun as he never seems to win. He also seemed to be concerned that the skipper appears to win quite frequently. The skipper puts that down to skill and constant monitoring and thinks the oppressed bosun is just revealing sour grapes and nothing to do with any sort of inside knowledge. The skipper has repeatedly referred to the use of the Duckworth-Illingworth formula - but the oppressed bosun doesnt seem to take it on board.

Robust, white sail reach followed yesterday's blog and then a fairly sloppy night where we dropped some speed. Overnight we broke through the 1000 Nm distance to Fatu Hiva - our proposed destination. However the dawn broke with some fresh breeze and Water Music was going fast again. The 24 hour run was back to 172 Nautical Miles and that is precisely the number that the skipper had guessed.

At morning coffee, we enjoyed chocolate banana bread and followed that at lunch with the last of the fresh cheese and newly baked bread. We also finished the last of the serrano ham and are getting our way through the last of the apples.

Immediately after lunch we had a visitation from the local wildlife. Travelling downwind at about 9 knots we spotted some breaking waves some 50 yards ahead and took avoiding action from what turned out to be 2 large whales who appeared to be asleep on the surface - just over 900 miles from land. The oppressed bosun says they were copulating - but we dont think he really knows. Any ideas on what they might be would be great - they were shaped like pilot whales but were 30-40 feet long and we think that is too big for pilots. They had black, had pointed fins and very snub noses. We rapidly altered course and passed them about 20 yards to one side - affording everyone a great view, but sadly not time for any photographs. Thankfully they declined the invitation to tea and showed no further interest in us.

This afternoon the skipper finally relented and took down what was left of the Royal Thames Burgee that has flown from the top of the mast since we left Lanzarote. With it came the top of the Single Side Band Radio Aerial - so we are expecting somewhat worse reception on the nightly "listen with Norm" show. It seems that, under "Listen with Norm" there are 6 Ocean Cruising Club yachts crossing at the same time. 2 dont have SSB radios and 2 are far to far away from us for us to be able to hear them. Listen with Norm is precisely what it says.

We anticipate some fresher winds tomorrow for about 24 hours. Fishing limited as we are going too fast to bring any loaded lines in.