Wednesday evening and we were listening to the sounds of catchy Brazilian music as the sun went down. Ferg was at the back of the boat barbequing burgers, halloumi and bacon; the cooking smells were divine. Ian went to reel in the fishing lines. Another day without catching anything, until…
“Fish On!” he exclaimed, “and it’s a big one!” At the same time, from his position at the BBQ, Ferg clocked a large shark surge out of the ocean and the fishing line was no more as it went down with the shark and the plastic fishing lure, leaving Ian holding what was left of the line and the reel.
I think the shark might have been a little surprised by his catch. I know we were! As the other fishing line still needed to come in, it was done so cautiously – and with gloves on and a knife at the ready to cut the line if needed.
As we hit day seven on the high seas since leaving St Helena, we’re at the halfway mark; not just of this leg, but of the trip to Tobago as a whole. It’s good to have a milestone to celebrate.
Just after breakfast this morning, we launched into our next drama, the autopilot malfunctioned and switched off completely, leaving the parasail alone with nothing to direct it, so the boat started drifting.
Thankfully, we were all just steps away from the helm. Ferg got to it first and put it onto hand steer, but found the hydraulic helm a different kettle of fish to operate, especially while getting a wayward parasail back on track.
Getting the parasail down was the next challenge, which Ian did very quickly. We then switched to the spare autopilot – luckily this boat has one – otherwise it would mean hand steering for the remainder of the trip. What a fantastic addition.
At first glance, we thought the spare autopilot wasn’t working when set to wind and then realised that it was on factory settings to a motor boat, not sailboat, so that was easily adjusted!
With the parasail back up again, we’re now running with the spare autopilot two and hoping we’ve had our fill of drama for today! We have dubbed the auto pilots William & Harry – the heir and the spare. :- )
Thank you again for all your recent comments to the blogs, the land crew are sending them through regularly and it spurs us on no end to hear from you.
Total miles sailed in 48 hours: 333 Total miles to go to Fernando de Noronha: 865 Date: Thursday 9th March 2023 Photo: Dawn breaks
© Two Drifters Travel