Mick reported very light airs throughout his watch barely giving the boat steerage as the vane flopped from one side to the other in the swell. A breeze had however just come up and surprisingly we were making 3-4 knots over the ground with the sails snapping due to the combination of the light wind and swell. Mick had set the vane to starboard for a broad reach because what wind there was, was now from the North East and would otherwise be pushing us SW. I was surprised the twin headsails would set with that angle of wind but they did just about. The wind should veer back to the East in the next few hours but we'll see.
It's a very pleasant night with the boat gurgling gently along under an almost full moon and a largely clear, stary sky. It would be perfect if it wasn't for the still persistent swell knocking the wind out of the sails as the boat rolled - for the most part gently - to it.
Mick had also reported a close encounter with a sodium type light which he took to be a marker beacon for a string of long fishing lines like the ones we had passed yesterday.
After 10 minutes I noticed another glow on the port bow and assumed we were approaching another. However, as we got closer it became clear that this was not one light, but multiple lights. This was a sizeable vessel and I thought it was most probably the mother ship attending the long lines. The fact that it was not transmitting an AIS signal made me even more certain. Fishing vessels often don't transmit on AIS so as not to give their location away to competitors.
I hand steered for half an hour to ensure we stayed well off the unidentified vessel and then we resumed our previous heading of roughly west. It just goes to show that even these days with AIS mandatory for commercial vessels, one still needs to keep a good lookout even on the open ocean.
Earlier, before noticing the light, I'd made a cup of tea which I managed to drink whilst keeping the boat away from the fishing vessel. I'd boiled too much water and so used the excess to boil some potatoes in preparation for frying them for our Christmas breakfast. I'm doing the breakfast and Mick's in charge of lunch/dinner.
We have eggs and bake beans but no bacon and so I'll try making corned beef fritters instead and of course we'll have Mick's excellent bread.
It sounds like the centre piece of Christmas lunch is to be Spam Fritters. Apparently Mick is absolutely mad about them! We have plenty of potatoes and sweet potatoes so there'll be no shortage of starch. I must pursuade him to make Yorkshire Pudding too! There's also talk of home made chocolate cake for pudding!!
It's going to be a busy day especially if it starts as expected with a major sail change just after dawn!
It's going to be a strange Christmas day. I've never spent one at sea before and indeed have only ever missed Christmas at home once before and that was in 2016 when Mick and I arrived in Forte de France, Martinique on Christmas Eve, just in time to get to the shops to shop for Christmas lunch! I'm going to really miss the big family gathering at home, especially the excited little ones as they open their Christmas presents, but I'm sure Mick and I will have an enjoyable day. Christmas at sea will have its own special charm I'm sure. Indeed, as I write this, just after 0400, the nearly full moon is just about to set on the western horizon and will then leave the stars alone to guide us on our way. Venus is also already high in the sky behind us to announce the coming dawn.
Back home, it's 0800 and no doubt Sharon and hopefully some other helpers too, will be up preparing Christmas breakfast. Some of the family may have stayed at the house last night, those that didn't will turn up during the course of the morning and bedlam will break out as seven grandchildren create the excited chaos of another Christmas Day.
Christmas breakfast Curtesy of the Skipper.
The Mate will cook dinner later. Spam Fritters Atantic!
Now sailing under Cruising chute in light winds.
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