Day 15 – Sunday 23 February

By Cathleen Hughes.

After another night of clear skies and calm seas, we were barely making any progress so we began to motor. It allowed the crew to relax more but the goal of reaching Cape Town or even Tristan de Cunha for that matter, seemed to have extra days stacking up on it.

Life on board is very slow although the days move by quickly. Each crew member has three watches a day, two hours long. This means six hours of the day are spent on watch. During the off hours, some crew members prefer to sleep the day away while others make themselves busy by washing clothes, reading and chatting on the fore deck while poised in a stretched out, tanning position.

The afternoon, after lunch, is when the crew comes to life. The sun has passed its highest point in the sky so the temperatures are slightly lower as well as them having recharged for the first half of the day. For this reason, most of the excitement happens during this time of the day. Everyone on board enjoys an afternoon swim and the youngsters on board take full advantage of the harnesses by doing flips and tricks and cheering for the speed to be increased. On more than one occasion, crew members have landed up with their speedos or board shorts around their ankles.

An object was spotted floating ahead just off the port bow. As it came closer we could see that it was a buoy. We quickly grabbed the boat hook in an attempt to bring it in. There were shouts of “Its treasure” and “It’s a mine field.” We had to do two 360’s before we managed to correctly line up with the buoy to be able to bring it in. Once on board, we searched every inch of it looking for a name so we could possibly have a ‘claim to fame.’ Unfortunately we had no such luck. It was just an ordinary buoy covered in crabs and small white muscles. Nevertheless it has been stored in the anchor locker until we get home. For the last week, the sea has been littered with rubbish and debris. It is not uncommon for us to see the occasional box or plastic bag floating by. It is a sure sign to say that man has been here.

Later in the day we received a message from Mark Jennings, in Cape Town, to inform us that our skipper, Peter Bosch, had been awarded the Scout Medal of Merit for his service to Scouts and Rotary Scout at the BP Sunday and Awards Parade in Cape Town. We would also like to congratulate Mark Jennings on receiving his service award for service to the Sea Scout Base and the Rotary Scout programme. These two people do a tremendous amount of work for the Rotary Scout programme which we are all eternally grateful for and these awards are well deserved.

Just as the sun was setting beneath the horizon, we got a bite on one of the reels. Not even 10 seconds later, there was another bite on the other reel. This time, Lorraine and Ashwyn were closest to the reels so they began reeling them in. We figured that we must have passed through a school of fish. When the fish were close enough, Cathleen gaffed them and pulled them on board to reveal two beautiful Dorado’s. They were cleaned and gutted by Lorraine and Ashwyn and cut into fillets to be refrigerated for tomorrow night’s dinner. Tonight’s dinner had already been decided as being cold gammon pasta with mixed vegetables and baked beans all prepared by Virgil. It was finished off with a dessert of peaches and cream.

GPS: S32° 32’ 44” / W021° 33’ 72”
Heading: 148°