The Spell is broken… Texas Chainsaw Massacre or CSI Miami

As the FCS crew close on the Cape Verde Islands they catch their first fish of the trip. Mother watch Iona and Ian give us today’s update.  More photos to follow in due course.

Friday 24th November 2017

So the last few days of our journey have been a more relaxed tour of the Atlantic, playing card games and sing alongs on deck to keep us entertained. The stars of the night sky have become a particular interest and the spotting of a bird brightens up an otherwise fairly uneventful hour.

Today we realised that one of our cool boxes had not been working as a cool box, more like a sweat box. And the smell of the mouldy melon which we couldn’t wash away was actually that of a box of meat sat festering in liquefied chicken which took up a fair few bottles of antibac and Dettol to get rid of.

Plenty of marine life around

This afternoon has made up for the mornings disasters with a spectacular display of whales/dolphins- a pod of 10-12 1-3m long navy blue mammals with a rounded beak nose, blow hole and small scooped dorsal fin. They spent a good 20mins playing in our bow wave and chattering together and the debate on their species is ongoing ( I’m still on camp whale).

And Finally, fish for breakfast, lunch and supper…

Even more excitement to the day involved a couple of shoals of Dorado which were unfortunate enough to be swimming around our boat. This morning consisted of 2 small hauls which we sent back following a quick photo shoot and this afternoon within the space of 2 hours managed to catch ourselves 2 whoppers! Guess what we are having for breakfast lunch and supper tomorrow . . . .#

Iona and Ian

Skipper Ricky describes the blood bath that ensues once a fish is caught

Fishing has improved and we have so far landed four Dorado, two of which were returned after posing for photos and lived to grow a bit bigger and wiser, and two much larger ones who were unfortunate enough to be landed by crew who were waiting for their dinner and feeling peckish. So we have stocked up the freezer with fresh Dorado and I will adjust the meal plan accordingly. There is a general excitement as the fish is hooked, then the thrill of getting it on board, the splendour of seeing such a magnificent beautiful creature and then unfortunately the bloody frenzy as it is battered to death with a mallet and dispatched with a sharp knife. This then necessitates a cleaning of the deck, the helm and blood splatter traces reminding one of scenes from a chainsaw massacre in Texas, or a particularly gory episode of CSI Miami.

Posted by: First Class Sailing