"DOING THE ATLANTIC"

‘Doing the Atlantic’ on Hullabaloo
By Nigel & Louise

30^th January 2016

Current position has Hullabaloo at 14.18N, 59.10W, and 99 nm from Martinique, our intended landfall. Having left Mindelo in the Cape Verdes’ at 12pm on Monday 18^th January we have now been at sea for 12 days and 2 hours. With approximately 15 hours left at sea we are all now starting to recall what life is like at 90 degrees to the horizontal, what bliss a full night’s sleep will provide and whether it is true that too much rum doesn’t cause hangovers!

We have had a blast; below are some of the highlights…….

·      Almost more Dorado that you can shake your fishing rod at. It was just before 6pm on the evening we left Mindelo when the line started to run; typically the gin and ice had just hit the bottom of the glass, the tonic was at the ready. Andrew, having fought the good fight, reeled the monster in and I then proceeded to beat it to death whilst trying to hook it on board with the gaff. Amongst a certain amount of squeamishness we set about the dismemberment – the mongers of Billingsgate would have been horrified. Nevertheless an hour later sashimi was served; sadly to a crew who were feeling the onset of seasickness.  Andrew was devastated so decided to eat the lot!

Since then we have pretty much caught fish to order – we feel rather spoiled to say that there is only so much ocean fresh fish you can eat. After Annie, Betty, Curtly and Desdemona the Dorados we now have, as of 10 minutes ago,  Englebert the Tuna! Sashimi for lunch!

Nigel and Betty

Lesson learned – don’t take any advice from Andrew when it comes to landing a fish on deck. Video evidence is available but to see a man reduced from total confidence to cries of  ‘even Julia is better at this than me’ is to witness the descent of man.

·        Games. Monopoly on the iPad clearly demonstrated that the ladies of Bursledon are rather better at residing in the smart hotels of London than they are at developing them. Hearts (the card game) showing that whilst staying in the smart hotels the ladies of Bursledon are rather good at plotting revenge attacks on their husbands. A devastating final play by Julia upset Andrew for at least 24 hours!

Lessons learned - Rummikub is about the most pointless game invented by man. Please, never again.

·       Daily mileage estimates – Louise’s unbeaten winning streak of 4 straight days rather took the fun out of the game.

Lessons learned – that’s the last time I will be able to get away with pretending that six inches……

·        Sleeping at sea. The theory of ‘lee cloths and wedging’ has dominated conversations. All of us have slept from ‘awful’ to ‘blimey, that was good’ on the scale.

Lesson learned – firstly that the ‘starfish’ is by the far the most effective method. One person, 4 limbs, one in each corner of the forepeak. Unbeatable for a good nights sleep at sea!

·         Provisioning at sea – the sessions of planning by Julia and Louise (no white wine involved) and the seemingly endless visits to El Court Inglais in Gran Canaria and the markets of Mindelo paid off. We have eaten like kings. Supplemented by Annie and her fishy friends we have had everything from beans on toast to perfectly cooked roast leg of lamb. Where possible, and to much scepticism, I have sought to introduce the skipper and his wife to the endless meal variations that Chorizo allows. Aside from the lamb highlights have been Curtly’s ceviche, Scallops with Cauliflower puree (and Chorizo) and Dorado Kerala. All have been washed down with a combination of the finest wine boxes that man can buy, Canarian beer, rum or gin. Anyone who has been able to follow our track will now understand quite why we have taken the route that we have.

Curtly's Ceviche

Lessons learned – firstly that to set sail with no less than10 feet of Chorizo should be a criminal offence. Secondly that, Julia, just because the prawns are cooked in the picture on the front of the packet doesn’t mean that they are.

·      Technology and communications – with the obvious exceptions of lack of contact with family and friends, which we have all missed, our  contact with the outside world has been almost non-existent.

Lessons learned – firstly that with our own personal ‘Google’ on board we didn’t need the internet anyway and and secondly we should all spend more time at sea.

·       Oh, and the sailing. With very few exceptions we have had day after day of glorious sailing conditions; well established trade winds, mostly blue skies and following seas. Nights have been moonlit and warm.

Half way across!

Lessons learned – firstly, whichever watch Andrew is on, avoid. The skipper is a magnet for squalls, rain showers and flappy sails. Secondly that the phrases ‘poled out yankee’ and ‘3 to starboard’ are now ingrained in Louise’s vocabulary – even Robert Galbraith would struggle with those! 

Skipper dressed for half way party

And so with Martinique almost in sight we have all being reflecting. Louise and I feel enormously privileged to have ‘done the Atlantic’ with Andrew and Julia. Hullabaloo could not have been better prepared or more comfortable for an ocean crossing.  With very few exceptions Hullabloo ‘worked’ and when she didn’t we could rely on the Dallas inventory to tell us where to find the parts or provisions that were needed. Never has a greater collection of Tupperware and labeled boxes and packages been assembled in such a relatively small space. We have been staggered to realize that Andrew is rather organized and Julia doesn’t like to be very far from a bottle of cold white wine!

We are now all looking forward to a last few days of island hopping, beach to beach, bar to bar. It will be wrench for Louise and I to get on a plane back home on Thursday after an amazing three weeks; back to real life, for some of us at least……

Thank you so much, Andrew and Julia, for putting up with us; for the giggling, the pearls of Andrew’s wisdom and for the Ceviche and Sashimi. Life doesn’t get much better than this.