If things go well there may be a picture attached of Prop’s windvane and the lead I’ve wrapped around the weight at the bottom as a counterbalance. The Photo was taken two days ago and nothing like a reflection of today’s weather which is a lot windier and with bigger seas, however it’s not too bad I’ve just put up the main again with 3 reefs and we’re close reaching on the port tack to the NW looking for better weather as a low passes South of us.
I must take more pictures, even if I can’t send them it’s good to have them, I just tend not to think about it. Even with a couple of meals with the other competitors before we left, everyone else got their cameras out and I didn’t.
Major stuff up, I forgot to buy any garlic, I must start making lists, how could I forget garlic, disaster! I found some ginger which I’d brought from home and needed eating, it went in the chicken last night which was very good. I’m looking forward to it again tonight, I did it in the pressure cooker which is a brilliant thing on a boat, it’s big and cuts down the cooking time a lot which saves gas. I have four bottles of gas which I hope will last me all the way there and back because I believe that they use propane in the states and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get the appropriate jets for my cooker.
Speaking of cooking, the fridge on the boat looks like a small domestic fridge as opposed to most boats where the fridge is built in and accessed from the top. On mine it’s absolutely fine on the port tack because it leans away from the door. On the Starboard tack when I try to open it I have to keep catching stuff that slides out, on a day when we’re sailing enthusiastically it’s a real pain and best to plan not to use it, to tack or use a lull in the wind to get out the things needed, this happened yesterday, the wind died for a bit so as I was getting cheese, ham and tomatoes out I also pulled out the chicken for dinner so I didn’t have to do it whilst it was in the ‘spill everything all over the deck’ position. Everything on a boat is a compromise, it’s easier to find stuff than in a top loading fridge and has the advantage of a small ice compartment where I’ve frozen some meat to hopefully see me into the third week, and is also good for ice for G and Ts, but it’s major disadvantage is access on the starboard tack.
Breakfast yesterday was not as intended, I knew that I had some mushrooms in the fridge which needed eating so I thought I’d have mushrooms in a white sauce on toast. However when I looked at the mushrooms they were looking OK but a bit too slimy and soft for me to feel happy cooking them so I’m afraid I consigned them to the deep and had a sort of Spanish omelette instead. I’d kind of lost them, I had thought I had some from home but they were buried under other stuff in the fridge and I hadn’t found them so assumed that I must have left them behind, then came across them whilst finding ham yesterday.
Chris asked about routeing and I forgot to mention it in my e mail to him but I had intended to try to follow approximately a great circle route which is the shortest distance and is a straight line on a globe but looks like a gentle curve on a mercator chart, however Ertan has a book on the OSTAR and most winners have gone on the approximate Rhumb Line which is a straight line on a mercator chart. I thought about it and decided that coming down through the grand banks, which is where the great circle goes, may be unpleasant because of the cold, fog and ice so I’ve plotted a great circle to about 500 miles short of our finish at Newport from where I’ll take a rhumb line, I’m hoping that this may work. The others seem to be on a similar route mind you a lot of our direction is dictated by the wind in any case. He’d just read Chichester’s book and was wondering if Blondie Hasler had written about the Ostar which I don’t think that he has, however it is covered in Ewan Southby Tailor’s book about Blondie.
Well that’s noon, we’ve done over a thousand miles but, sadly still have 2306 to go, day’s run was 116. Nothing terrible but I’d have hoped to be further on than this by now. Particularly as I’ve no garlic left.