As the day dawned we found two flying fish on the boat! I mean, “we caught two flying fish”…. After consulting our fishing book, Charlie gutted them and broke their back muscles so they wriggle appropriately, rigged them so their wings stayed out, and attempted to use them as bait to catch something more dinner-appropriate. Not successful, possibly because we were sailing too fast and the hooks were ripped through the fish.
Winds lower (10-15kt), seas still lumpy. Scooting along at 7kt or so with a triple-reefed main and the whole of the jib. Could and would go faster if we raised some more mainsail, but the lumpy seas make it uncomfortable at speed so we just tootled along.
Ate the last of the cake as a late-morning snack; planned a 1000Nm-to-go cake.
Seas died down later in the afternoon, so released the rest of the sails. Speeds between 9 and 12 knots in 12-15 knots of wind. Lovely 😊 – we hoped to stay ahead of most of the coming calms if we kept this speed up for a little while. Racing towards 1000Nm to go, too, which means more cake.
Some maintenance – fixing a loose cushion back which was letting our books slip down behind the cushion; repairing a loose/wet electrical connection on the speed transducer; engine checks which revealed a slightly worn fan belt on the starboard engine. And catching up on the tidying in general.
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