The last day

So another week has gone by. We have completed 2 full weeks at sea and can almost smell the welcoming aromas of Grenada and the Caribbean. At the time of writing we have passed below Barbados and are currently north of Tobago. I expect to sight land around 02:00 on 4 Dec and we expect to finish around first light.

In the last week we have had some great sailing, initially under the Bora, and then as the wind became stronger and more gusty reverting to a conventional white sails plan. Our last 10 days have averaged around 150nm per day which is what we would have expected for the total trip. We also had the fastest boat in the ARC sail past us a couple of days ago and had a very cordial chat on the VHF. Berencice Cube is a 90ft Swan (so about twice the size of Valent) and was travelling in race mode, so big sails and around 7 people up on watch and going twice as fast as us (and that was slow for them). Our sunsets have also started to improve as we get further west and find less squall activity.

Events of the last week include fixing the generator, doing more work with the sextant and getting better at catching fish. Last weekend the generator ceased to function correctly. After doing all of the basic stuff (change fuel filter, air filter, check oil and cooling system) the generator would still not run correctly, cutting out after around 10 mins. Further work and investigation (trying different things) lead to checking all of the relay switches. I decided that the fuel pump relay switch looked old and less than perfect so popped a new on in. Result. The generator now runs and charges the batteries.

During the week I did some more sun sights and 1 evening fixed our position using the stars and Jupiter. After dealing with some basic arithmetic errors (e.g. I somehow did 36 – 26.2 = 15.8!) I achieved a good result putting us within 5 miles of our GPS position. It was enjoyable to start shooting the stars again, Deneb and Vega were just as bright and easy to identify as I remember from my previous days of astro-navigation (a long time ago).

The fish have started to bite with greater regularity. We lost a large Dorado (also known as Mahi mahi or Dolphin fish) which broke the swivel, but have subsequently landed 2 decent sized ones today. 2 days ago we got a 10kg yellow fin tuna. Big enough to produce 15 generous steaks and leave a big bag of the rest for making tuna tartare and probably a pasta dish.

Tonight we will be eating tuna again, I am going to use up the last of my fresh ingredients to do a version of a Rick Stein recipe – char-grilled tuna on a warm salad of green beans, garlic & tomato. Perhaps do some soy & lime noodles to go with it. Lunch will be breaded dorado wraps served with a lemon garlic mayo & capers.

All being well breakfast will be alongside tomorrow morning. I have specially reserved the best bacon and half a dozen eggs to ensure monster butties to celebrate. The beer is also chilling and maybe something fizzy as well.