After making good progress yesterday the wind faded away after nightfall, and by around 2am we were gently bobbing around with the sails flapping. I tried to sleep but the swell from the previous few days wind was making the boat roll constantly so the booms banged and crashed every few seconds even though I had them sheeted in hard.
A couple of hours of this was enough so I went up on deck, briefly admired the wonderful starlit sky, and dropped the main. Going back down below and settling down again I soon found that now the motion was even worse as the sail was no longer providing the little stability it had before. We now rolled more violently than before, with glasses rattling in the lockers and things sliding from side to side, including me.
It was driving me crazy so I went back up and hoisted the main again but it only went up a couple of feet then stuck fast. No amount of winching would shift it, so I got a torch and shone it aloft to see that the halyard had got tangled around the upper spreader. Now I couldn’t move the sail up or down, and didn’t fancy clambering up in the dark to try to fix it, so went back down to bed to continue being rolled around in my bunk.
After what seemed like an eternity but was only a couple of hours dawn finally broke so I went back on deck. By tying another line to the halyard I was able to shake it free of the spreader and finally got the main up again. There still wasn’t enough wind to sail but at least it made the rolling a little less violent, so I went back to bed.
By the time I got up at 9 the wind had picked up to around 5 knots which is just enough to get us moving, so I set sail. Unfortunately this wretched little breeze is now coming from the ENE which is exactly where I am heading, so I have had to bear away to the north to be able to move and we’re now making a stately 1.5 knots.
Meanwhile I’ve found a distraction to take my mind off the lack of wind – the performing fish of todays title. As I ate my breakfast in the warm morning sunshine I heard a splash and looked around to see some ripples just off the starboard bow. Seconds later a large fish leapt out of the calm sea and did a graceful somersault before plunging back into the water. Three nearby seagulls applauded and held up little score cards, murmering apprecatively to one another. Well, actually they didn’t but it would have been a nice touch and I think I’m allowed a little poetic license…
There must be something going on here as there are lots of seagulls sitting around waiting for something, and every now and then another fish leaps right out of the water. They’re quite big, probably 1-2 feet, and their bodies are fat and oval with a slendar scimitar-like tail. No idea what they are as my knowledge of fish is probably less extensive than that of birds. I’ve also seen a couple of dolphins (or something) pop up to have an occasional look around before disappearing with a sigh and a waggle of their tail.
So even though we’re back to the sedate progress of a few days ago at least I’ve got something more entertaining to watch. I’ve also seen a couple of flying fish today, one of which I almost watered as I attended to a call of nature over the side of the boat. It fluttered away indignantly looking just like a dragonfly, and managed about 20 feet in the air before plopping back into the sea.
As for the rest of the day, well since it’s a flat calm and the sun is shining I guess there’s only one thing for me to do – and I’m sure by now you can work out what that is!