Trucial Coast, Day 10 – not quite halfway….

Morning all. Unfortunately our Halfway Ho-Down is going to have to be postponed for a couple of reasons. Firstly I may have spent too long in the sun as I miscalculated our ETA at halfway by about 8 hours yesterday. Then there is the issue of the weather – the wind got very light overnight and came round to a due easterly breeze and has stayed light – Force 3-4. Finally there is the parasailor…. these conditions are tailormade for the parasailor – light following winds, and with it we could probably make 6.5-7 knots. Rob & I have just rerigged it and tried to hoist it, but unfortunately the sail must have ripped on the night the guy chafed through, so it is now just an expensive foredeck ornament. Those of you who know Rob or I well can insert whatever colourful adjectives, nouns and adverbs you feel we may be using at this time. Personally I’ve moved onto Dutch words now as I’ve exhausted my full gamut of English ones. So we’re sat with a light following wind, which means the breeze over the deck is minimal. The sun is blazing down and we’re making about 5 knots. Best guess is that we’re 90 miles from halfway, so at current pace we’ll be there in the early hours of tomorrow morning. But it’s nothing more than a guess and as has been pointed out before on this log, the only thing we know for sure is that the guess will be wrong…. However, undeterred, please let me officially extend the following to you: INVITATION

You are cordially invited aboard S/Y Trucial Coast for a Halfway Ho Down, to celebrate our being equidistant between Las Palmas De Gran Canaria and Rodney Bay, St Lucia.

Dress Code: Saturday Night Fever (think the best of the 70′s)
Time and date: Ummm…..see above!

Starters:
Peeled prawns in a Marie Rose Sauce on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce, served in martini glasses.

Main Course:
A classic fondue made with line fish (or maybe flying fish, see below).

Dessert:
A kiwi and passion fruit pavlova

All served accompanied with Mateaus Rose wine.

After dinner, Ferrero Roche and After Eight chocolates will accompany cheeses and digestifs.

We will be hoisting a mirror ball up the spinnaker halyard and having a disco on the foredeck (might as well use the spinnaker halyard for something….)

Carriages (or tenders): 0100 UTC

RSVP
BYOB

Onto the fishing – we chucked the line over yesterday for the first time, and already I feel like a real fisherman because I have a “one that got away story”. Our squid lure on a weighted line was taken by a 50 cm fish, but as I reeled it in, it unfortunately escaped. It’s a pretty rubbish story but it is true! Seriously – if I was lying it would have been a lot bigger than 50 cm. That’s not a line I’ve used often before.

Flying fish continue to launch themselves to their deaths on our decks – this morning was the first morning without at least one on board for a while. So if the squid lure and my reeling tactics fail us, we can always eat flying fish. But apparently it’s really not very tasty at all!

That’s all for today, tune in again tomorrow to find out if we make it to halfway or not!