Return Crew Day 14 – 21 February 2020
Francois Meyer
Two weeks in and finally the inevitable happened… Clare noticed that I was the only one to not have written a blog. So here I am sitting below deck on my first blog duty. My days of hiding quietly in plain sight have come to an end.
Life on board continues as usual, the flat glassy waters have given way to a mild North-Easterly swell while the motionless air has been replaced by a consistent 15 knot North-Easter. The light howl of the wind, splash of the wake and creaking of the rig are a welcome relief from the clatter of a diesel engine, all the while the increased speed that comes with sailing rather than motoring has received no complaints.
It has been nearly two days with absolutely no action on the fishing lines. The memory of the fish that got away is now starting to haunt us as we would all relish a braai with some fresh fish. Every small tick the boat makes we all spin around in the expectation of a screaming reel, but are forced to retire to our lazing spots as we wait for another tick… or a screaming reel!
In the food department we have been getting more creative, adding more and more tins together to create some tasty meals, and last night Cam discovered some tins of Breyani with real chicken pieces and made us an incredible soup/stew to warm up in the chilled early evening breeze. Yesterday as we felt it was an uneventful day, we decided to spice it up a little with an afternoon tea and cake session.
After several days of bonding with our new friend Jeff (the stripy fish from our bow wake) we are sad to say he has decided to leave us… I guess we can’t blame him as I’m sure none of us could keep up a pace of 4-6 knots for 3 straight days. We wish him well.
For those of you wondering how I ended up on board and why I am doing the trip, here it is. In early December, I was flown to Brazil to deliver a boat back to Cape Town, it all went well for a few days when 500nm off the coast an incorrect weather report put us at the mercy of the dreaded Pampero. Monster swell and winds in excess of 70 knots left us with our mast in the water, a gaping hole in the deck and water above the floor boards at midnight. Thankfully around first light the Pampero left us before we took on too much water and we were allowed to start the tedious process of cutting the rig loose and begin our long exhausted motor back to Brazil. I now had to find another way home and thankfully after exhausting every contact and social media page I had, I was put in touch with the crew of Rotary Scout who had a spot available for me on board. Relieved and thankful to leave my nightmare experience behind I am finally on my way home.
Happy 21st to Dylan from Cheese knees.