Torpedo Dolphins

Life is just not fair. The owner's wife travelled all the way over to Las Palmas to wave us off from the dock and wish us God's speed. She also endured ages waiting on the shoreline trying to identify us among the hundreds of yachts milling around to capture the ultimate startline photo. Despite all that she has not yet seen any dolphins nor any phosphorescence - and last night we saw both simultaneously! In the dark early evening yet another pod of them arrived and zoomed up both sides of us. In the dark we could see nothing in the water but the phosphorescence churned up by their bodies and air bubbles. It looked like a series of green torpedoes streaking down the side of the boat. Quite spectacular.

Nothing much else is spectacular. The wind has wobbled around 13 knots with a moderate swell. We cannot carry the spinnaker very well in these light winds - and in any case we cannot hold the course we want so we are back to main and poled out genoa. It can be quite pleasant for whole minutes at a time before the boat succumbs to a pendulum attack and we have to put up with five or six major swings with all the associated clashing and flapping of sails. We've talked to a few boats on the VHF and know that they have tried everything like us and are suffering in the same way. Apart from that the sky is clear blue, the sun is hot and the sea is relatively flat. Some might call it champagne sailing - but you would not keep your champagne inside the glass for long in these conditions. No pictures so far today. The crew have been streaming fishing lines again and managed to hook what they say was a big dorado - enough for about two evenings dinners. Chef was a little more sceptical -something along the lines of "I'll believe that when they have got it on board". Chicken it is tonight - the fish managed to escape and so no photographs of the triumphant fisherman with the catch. We are assured it is just a matter of time. Hmmmm!