Having repaired the sail and re set it we had a peaceful afternoon pottering North East at about 3 knots, Noon to noon yesterday was 79 miles.
I had curried neap for dinner yesterday, a vegetarian meal, I feel the Julies approval. I’ve not tried currying swede before but it actually works very well, you’d hardly know it was only swede, well I put some red cabbage through it too. The only thing that I find with it is that, it sticks a bit to the bottom of the pressure cooker but not badly and it comes off easily enough with enthusiastic stirring with a wooden spoon.
Katharine sent me a recipe for Butternut curry which I may try to do tomorrow but don’t have many of the ingredients, I’m hoping I have a tin of coconut milk, I believe I do but need to rummage around in my locker full of tins to see. Some tins I wrote in black marker on the lid what they were in case the labels came off, others I didn’t, it’ll be one without marker on it. If I don’t have any then I don’t think even the basics of the recipe will be worth trying to adapt but we’ll see. In fact, hang on a minute, I’m sure you’re all keen to learn so I’ll have a look now..........
Sadly, no, I have evaporated milk but no coconut milk, I suspect that Katharine’s recipe may not work as well as hoped, well not that one anyway I’m going to attempt a Hungarian dish tonight which I think should work.
Having looked through my tins stash I really need to go on a longer voyage I’ve loads of them, tins of soup, ravioli, beans, chlli, tomatoes etc. Also a couple of tins of fruit salad and evaporated milk.
Katharine was asking a few questions yesterday things like what do I now wish I’d brought with me, I’d said to her nothing much other than more music, I didn’t download enough, but lentils and tins of coconut milk could be added to the list.
Here’s her list of questions:
1. Given all the bumpy seas you have endured, how have you managed to keep fresh eggs unbroken.
2. Do you managed go sleep at night, or are you just napping, working, napping, all the time.
3. Do you keep a strict ‘watch’ whereby you regularly check everything on deck at regular intervals through the night.
4. Apart from garlic, is there anything else that you wish you had brought with you, other than a spare mast!
5. What are you most looking forward to when you get home. What do you miss?
6. Has the boats handling been as you expected (bar the loss of the mast).
Answers:
1. They are in egg boxes, 2 one jammed in with milk in a locker and the other in a locker which opens from the top and has stuff piled up in it with the eggs sort of secure in that, they can’t fall down.
2. I’m sleeping more now that we’re not racing, well longer at a time that is. With the current sail set up there’s less need to alter sail area. For the last couple of nights I’ve slept through apart from having to get up for pee. When I was racing I’d be up more, not so much because of racing because we’d keep needing to put up more or reduce sail or change course a little. That was a pain because we were nearly always going into the weather so it was wet on deck necessitating oilskins prior to emerging from the cabin..
3. No, just if things feel or sound wrong.
4. Garlic, more music, possibly podcasts but I’ve never downloaded any, lentils, coconut milk.
5. A bath, company, a home that’s not moving around jerkily all the time necessitating holding on all the time. A fire.
6. Freya’s handling has been great, she’s very strong, (well, apart from the deck fitting which broke when the mast came down!) I found when sailing with the proper mast that reefing early was good, it didn’t slow us down, sometimes it increased speeds. At 20 knots true wind speed three reefs and the No1 staysail was more than enough to make good speed.
My repair of the Navtex worked, I’m now getting navigational warnings and weather on it which is good, it’s more useful around the UK actually as the shipping forecast comes through on it along with the coastal forecasts which means I don’t have to remember to write it down off the radio. I’m not sure If I’m particularly useless but I often find, listening to the forecast, that I tune in, get the beginning then zone out as it goes through viking, forties, cromarty etc. I often find I then zone in again at around Bailey and find that I’ve completely missed the one that I was supposed to be listening for. Very annoying. Luckily the coastguard around the uk transmit it every three hours along with updates on new gale warnings so it’s difficult to be completely ignorant of the met offices more alarming prognostications.
Well it’s almost time for a cup of coffee and slice of cake. Thanks for the cake at the moment going, I think, to Patrick and Sally a fruity, malty loaf. Very good.