Out at sea, in the middle of the night, with nothing but empty ocean and two converging yachts, 300m is not alot
183nm covered in 24 hours
Position at 23/11/09 12:00 UTC 23.41N 19.10W
While Mark continues to work on identifying the correct lure for fish in this part of the Atlantic, a defrosted tuna caught earlier in the year in the Med made an excellent substitute for supper cooked by skipper Peter. Suffice to say today’s rod and lure will tomorrow, be joined by a “Muppet” (a pink and blue rubber jelly-like squid lure) and second rod to double our chances!
Overnight we had close encounter with a second yacht. Like the first our CPA was approx 300m, while 300m might seem plenty of distance between us on the AIS monitor and on the radar target report – after all we drive much closer than that in cars on roads. Out here at sea, at night, with nothing but empty-ocean and our two converging yachts, it’s not quite the same. We as the stand-on yacht technically had right of way, but little comfort when 300m represents just a couple of minutes between us at the closest point and without confirmation via radio comms is a little too close. The yacht did eventually respond to our lighting the sails with deck lights and all was well. Maybe the crew just didn’t have the confidence/ language or radio skills to respond to our calls, we did speak after the event and within the hour we heard the same yacht calling ahead to confirm intention at 5 miles. I think a lesson learnt.
Other than that, all quiet on ASOLARE as we proceed south in good wind, ballooner flying from the mizzen mast, foresail from the main. Looking forward to another day in the spirit of the Asolare namesakes – The Asolares: the Counts of Italy in their summer palaces in the northern Italian valley of Asalo “doing nothing in particular- but doing it in great style and elegance in the sunshine!”
As I type details of a search and rescue operation responding to an earlier possible Mayday call are being broadcast on over the radio. The search and rescue aircraft is calling for everyone to keep a sharp lookout. While we are enjoying the sunshine, it does serve to keep our minds focused on the task.