tome
New member
Saturday 19th May, 9am local 9am BST
45deg 54N 9deg 12W, motorsailing again 7-8 knots, cog85T, wind 10knots. Baro 1018.6mb. Around 300 miles to Sables D'Olonne.
Barometer stable or even risen a touch over last three hours, and the wind is down to F3, dang. Para had an excellent sail yesterday afternoon though, bashing along at over ten knots in 20 knots of wind. We watched a film inside (Taxi Driver), a bit surreal whilst surfing 4-5 metre swell.
But evening came and the wind died a bit, and heading further north meant we'd have to do ten knots to make the shipping lanes during daylight today. So the earlier neat idea of heading north, then east, then south to destination won't work, essentially because in light winds the distance to travel is too great, possibly around umm pi/2 times greater I suppose.
This morning we've already had a few ships bound SSW, four on AIS at the moment so likely more to come during the day. I put a motoring cone up, partly for the novelty value and partly because it was still in the packet from previous owner.
So, quiet evening last night and nothing much going on. An ideal time to call up whoever is on watch from handheld VHF in forward cabin with your own boat position (in French) and see if he's awake. LJS came back straightaway, I put him on to canal soixante-douze and then Paddy (also in on the caper - it was his idea, honest) came to get the skipper about this French-speaking guy apparently on a military vessel called "Varifon", from Brest. Paddy takes over the handheld in the forward cabin. Back up in the cockpit, LJS explains the situation to me. So, still on 72, I call the unlikely-named mythical ship, and when he responds I ask him to confirm if he is indeed "Varifon de Brest". Paddy responds in ridiculous French accent that mais oui, he eez very fond hee haw hee haw. But LJS doesn't tumble the gag, so I asked Varifon to confirm his position as I couldn't see him on AIS. Paddy the Frenchie goes mad and says of course you can't see me on AIS yer stupid eengleesh types - I am a military submarine! LJS peered over the side for a submarine. But we all had a good laugh about it later. And (seriously) the initial call was a valid check that we're really listening out - LJS caught it first time.
4 x FB pies yesterday for tea yesterday, and then fruit cocktail also from a proper tin. Well, the fresh food is running very low. Or a least, that's my excuse.
tcm
45deg 54N 9deg 12W, motorsailing again 7-8 knots, cog85T, wind 10knots. Baro 1018.6mb. Around 300 miles to Sables D'Olonne.
Barometer stable or even risen a touch over last three hours, and the wind is down to F3, dang. Para had an excellent sail yesterday afternoon though, bashing along at over ten knots in 20 knots of wind. We watched a film inside (Taxi Driver), a bit surreal whilst surfing 4-5 metre swell.
But evening came and the wind died a bit, and heading further north meant we'd have to do ten knots to make the shipping lanes during daylight today. So the earlier neat idea of heading north, then east, then south to destination won't work, essentially because in light winds the distance to travel is too great, possibly around umm pi/2 times greater I suppose.
This morning we've already had a few ships bound SSW, four on AIS at the moment so likely more to come during the day. I put a motoring cone up, partly for the novelty value and partly because it was still in the packet from previous owner.
So, quiet evening last night and nothing much going on. An ideal time to call up whoever is on watch from handheld VHF in forward cabin with your own boat position (in French) and see if he's awake. LJS came back straightaway, I put him on to canal soixante-douze and then Paddy (also in on the caper - it was his idea, honest) came to get the skipper about this French-speaking guy apparently on a military vessel called "Varifon", from Brest. Paddy takes over the handheld in the forward cabin. Back up in the cockpit, LJS explains the situation to me. So, still on 72, I call the unlikely-named mythical ship, and when he responds I ask him to confirm if he is indeed "Varifon de Brest". Paddy responds in ridiculous French accent that mais oui, he eez very fond hee haw hee haw. But LJS doesn't tumble the gag, so I asked Varifon to confirm his position as I couldn't see him on AIS. Paddy the Frenchie goes mad and says of course you can't see me on AIS yer stupid eengleesh types - I am a military submarine! LJS peered over the side for a submarine. But we all had a good laugh about it later. And (seriously) the initial call was a valid check that we're really listening out - LJS caught it first time.
4 x FB pies yesterday for tea yesterday, and then fruit cocktail also from a proper tin. Well, the fresh food is running very low. Or a least, that's my excuse.
tcm
