Friday

More fish than we wanted!

So yesterday we caught a horse Jack tuna and a big Mahi Mahi. 

Thinking kedgeree for the Mahi, but need advice on Tuna dishes, other than pasta bake! Any thoughts gratefully received. We’ve put the reels away for a while!

We kept our white sails out as squall activity increased. Luckily we have skirted most of them. This morning we were chased by these big squalls!

It meant a reduction in speed though to 6 knots. We were hoping that Tam Lim didn’t catch us, but over the past few days we have built a bit of a lead! 

Then disaster! The winds disappeared!

That meant we had to give in and motor for two hours as we were just bobbing. We brought the sails in as they were flogging. I had been in touch with the crew of Voyager II by VHF and they were suffering from the same conditions. They, however, have fuel for 900 miles. We have fuel for 600 miles. Distance to destination… 900 miles!

After speaking to Voyager II we compared weather forecasts. Mine shows a big wind hole for the next 5 days. Sadly so did his. So we might be in for some flukey sailing.

After two and half hours finally some wind came. Sadly only 8 knots and so we put the BWR on starboard with pole as a single sail and managed to convert that to 4 knots. Better than nothing.

In the meantime, latest Message from ARC Rally Control:

Quote

Dear ARC Skippers,

Aphrodite was the first yacht to go to the aid of Take Off on Sunday night, and as well as putting a Dr onboard to assess the crew injury Aphrodite was the first to transfer spare diesel to the yacht.

Amanzi. Following a phone call to Rally Control last night just before the 2000 position poll a range and bearing for Take Off was supplied and Amanzi sailed up from astern in the dark to a very surprised crew on Take Off. A smooth transfer of 50l of diesel in jerry cans using floating line, an inflated lifejacket and light followed. The operation from initial call to reported as complete was under three hours.

Joanna. At 1618 today Joanna reported successful transfer of 250l of fuel in jerry cans. They have kindly passed their fuel transfer pump to SALT who is now filling jerry cans to pass across. The transfer pump will then be left with Take Off.

In excess of 20 yachts have so far offered assistance to pass fuel displaying the tremendous camaraderie that exists within the fleet and reflects the true spirit of the ARC. A big thank you to everyone in the fleet.

Take Off Position at: 30 Nov 2022 17:00 UTC
Lat/Lon: 16° 47.78 N, 040° 27.80 W
Speed: 2.8 knots @ 287.64°

Today Defiance has developed a large crack in their mast close to the gooseneck. The mast has been stabilised and the sails taken down. All crew are safe onboard and there is no damage to the boat. They are now motoring towards Saint Lucia. With 1100nm to landfall they also may require help with extra fuel in due course.

Defiance Position at: 30 Nov 2022 16:00 UTC
Lat/Lon: 16° 18.25 N, 042° 23.63 W
Speed: 7.2 knots @ 256.81°

In Mindelo effecting repairs:
Albatros, Artemis, Dark ‘n Stormy, Katy, and Pec

Departing Mindelo today or tomorrow:
Beluga, Dream Away and Vitamin Sea

Wishing you all a safe and comfortable passage onwards to Saint Lucia.

End quote. 

We are about 50 miles away from Take Off and further from Defiance. I have offered Take Off some of our fuel if we catch up with them and they still need it. I’m hoping he has been offered enough by other vessels, but we have the backup of faint winds, they don’t. So we’ll keep an eye out for his position and await to hear from him or Rally Control.

Never having time to be bored, I inspected the bilges this morning. It’s not something I do every day. The bilge is the bottom most part of the boat and any water that enters will gravitate there. We have three very big and powerful pumps to remove any liquids, and an alarm should they exceed a certain height. Bilges will always have some water in them, mainly from internal condensation, but generally Carioca is a very dry boat. Drier than any I’ve had before. But when I opened the inspection hatch this morning, I was perturbed to see that they were full of oil! Bit of a panic. Where did it come from? Check engine. Nope! Check generator. Nope! Where then?!!
And the next obvious place was the starboard storage compartment where we store spare oils and coolants. And sure enough, for no apparent reason a 5 l bottle of oil has sprung a leak!

An hour later cleaning the bilges and we were back to a dry ish boat!

Phew. Another few days at sea and lots to keep us busy! What shall we do at the weekend….?