Thursday’s Child
Thursdays Child has far to go –343 miles anyway, which at our present 3 knots is going to take – well, a long time yet. The wind has been astonishingly flukey both in strength and direction leaving us the option of using a windvane and heading alternately to Carlisle then CapeTown but minimising the trimming required , or else sailing a compass course and adjusting sheets interminably. The night was quite wet and we wore full oilies and fleeces for the first time.
We have company ! Not only do we have fairly constant visitations from dolphins but there is a 42 foot Swan sailing just half a mile away. The father and son crew set off 3 days before us and have done so much motoring they are quite low on fuel. Every time we sail past they put their engine on and get ahead again so we have to be extra vigilant at night , especially when the showers reduce the visibility . Still its nice to have someone to chat to on the VHF. We can hear snippets of other conversations all around and I get the impression of a whole Armada held up by the high , trickling along just behind the weather front and imagine the ocean black with boats as we near Horta and converge.
Despite the cold and wet , Lynda had a magical experience last night . For once the wind was being kind and she was racing along completely surrounded by so many dolphins it felt as if she were a hovercraft flying over the phosphorescent bubbles from their combined wakes. There is a high pitched squeak coming from the boom somewhere that sounds very like the squeaking noises they make when they are excited so perhaps there is communication of sorts going on without our knowledge.
Our position at 1400 UT was 38 42N 36 11W which I can recommend as a great place for dolphins, but somewhat hard to leave behind on account of there ‘aint much wind. However we are having a good time and all is well on Festina Lente.