We've had both very little wind and plenty of wind in the last few days. All made much more pleasant because of the tropical feeling temperatures. I actually found a few little flying fish (which are mostly only found in warmer waters) on deck and got wet inspecting it. But I don't squeal half as loud these days when an unexpected wave gives me a drenching!
Along with the flying fish I've been seeing quite a bit of plastic and rubbish floating past recently, it looks so out of place and ugly drifting by on the swell. So I've resolved to put a lot more effort into refusing plastic bags and using less plastic when I get home.Yesterday and again last night, the wind was up to 35 knots which kept Ella's Pink Lady moving nicely, reefed down and flying along. Sunday started out being extremely frustrating when the wind dropped right out to nothing. It wasn't so much the fact that we were making no progress that had me on edge, but the horrible rolling motion. With a big 4m swell leftover from the latest weather system and no wind to
hold the sails steady, the rolling was extremely un-pleasant and really had me in a bad mood till the sky cleared and the sun came out. That one little thing made all the difference!
I spent the rest of the day having a great time in the sunshine going through my extensive stash of Ella Bache products, giving myself a total pampering and ensuring that my skin got its share of attention too!
By the time the wind started coming in again I was feeling better than I had in a long time, definitely ready to take on the rest of the world!
Another ship passed last night and as I often do, I gave them a call on the VHF radio and to check that they were aware of our position. Despite the fact that I'd rather have been asleep, the ship's watch-keeper sounded really friendly, it was good to chat to him till the conversation came to a bit of a dead-end, when I explained what exactly I was doing out here. I get that reaction quite a bit, apparently it must just be a little too much for them to take in or something?
But to be fair to them, I suppose it's a bit out of the norm to come across at little pink yacht in the middle of nowhere disappearing in and out of the swell on a dark windy night. And well, I suppose it would be quite un-expected to be casually told by a girly sounding voice that her next port of call is Sydney!
So time for a long awaited update on this fishing stuff. No good news I'm afraid. I've been putting the line out every now and then but after a bird went for the lure and got himself tangled in the line a few weeks back I've been a bit timid about it all since. The bird got himself free but I felt so bad, that I spent the rest of the afternoon feeding the other birds chocolate biscuits (I'm pretty into my chocolate biscuits so I think that gives you a pretty good idea of how bad I felt!). Seeing as I've only got so many chocolate 'bickys' onboard, you could say I've been a bit scare-easy about putting the line out recently. But we've still got plenty of miles to go, so I'm
sure I'll get my confidence back sometime soon.
That's it for me today, the wind has dropped off to 15 knots, so it's time to go pull anther reef out of the mainsail to keep us moving.
Jesse
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