Lazy Sunny Day -3rd January 2024
We had now completed two nights and it may be useful to know how we handle this. The night shifts are from 8.00-11.00pm, 11.00pm to 2.00am, 2.00am to 5.00am and 5.00am to 8.00am and the 3 four-hour day shifts then start. You are rotating all the time so that you do a different shift each day but repeat the cycle after 4 days. It is particularly important to be alert as visibility is difficult at night. A good example is that last night Robbie and I had the 11.00am to 2.00am shift and there was a tanker called the Hiroshima Star (271m long) coming towards us and across our path. Our chart plotter tells us cleverly the nearest collision point and the time when that will occur. We normally like a mile clearance or 0.75nm at a push. In this case it said between 40-210 metres so a real problem and in 45 minutes time. This sounds a lot but with closing speeds it happens quickly. I therefore called Hiroshima Star on the radio several times to check whether they had seen us and were we able to maintain our course but there was no reply. Either they were asleep or their radio was turned off or volume too low. We therefore had to alter course to give us a 1nm clearance. We could see its navigation lights approach and luckily fade into the distance. A mile does not seem far and it still looked quite close as this large tanker passed us. Safety is very important and at all times if on watch you must wear a life jacket and at night you must use a lifeline if leaving the cockpit and during the day if the conditions are such that it would be prudent to wear one. You clip them on to lazyjack lines which run down the sides of the boat. We do not want anyone falling overboard as it is difficult to recover people in an 0cean and over 50 % do not make it. A sobering statistic – so we do not want anyone falling overboard.
Robbie and I were on the first day watch at 8.00m having finished our night shift at 2.00am. It was a lovely sunny day and we were sailing along about 6.5 kts as the wind was still light. This was lovely relaxing sailing as the sea state was calm and we were not in a hurry. We had a leisurely breakfast and coffee and then decided to put up the Red Baron -our Parasail (see the picture). This is a large red, white and blue sail which we fly from the front of the boat a bit like a Spinnaker and which has a vent looking a bit like a parachute – hence the name. In the past we have had a few fights with the Red Baron but with some thought we rigged it properly and soon had it flying. It looks quite a sight and pushes us along nicely with the wind largely behind us.
We therefore had a relaxing day, reading, chatting and enjoying the warm sunny conditions as hour after hour we were eating up the miles. We were heading toward the Cape Verde Islands to ensure we had regular wind as the information we had told us that the north parts would have wind holes. The wind became stronger and more consistent and with just the Parasail we were bombing along at 7-8.6 kts.
It was so nice to have the engine off and all you can hear is the sea and the swish of the water going down the hull. Mark made chocolate brownies and the smell was so good wafting up into the cockpit. We put our fishing lines out but lost a number of lures as the lines snapped. The fish were too big for our lines- annoying.
The day passed and as the sun went down we had lemon and garlic chicken with rice and broccoli. We settled down for the night again and it had been a lazy but busy sunny day.