Atlantic Crossing Blog from Tranquillizer

Dolphins seen today nil

Mermaids seen today nil

Fish caught one, two so far this week!

We,re disappointed about the Mermaids with or wthout a copy of sporting life.

Cossack Dancing on the foredeck went well until the horses came on the scene. The Morris dancers scared the horses and we nearly had a diplomatic incident on our hands.

Fortunately Yorkshire 'flying brick' diplomacy was deployed and the whole thing finished like a Leeds United Football match!

Colin for the crew of tranquiliser.

STILL no Mermaids but last nights fine dining of fillet steak, fresh asparagus, petit pois and daughinoise potatoes had to be delayed slightly by the arrival of yet another Dorade on the port line. Bigger than last times so decided to have a change and fillet this one instead of taking the easy option and just cutting it into steaks. Colin took a particular liking to this one as it had bulging eyes which he thought made it look very pretty ( I think the solitude's getting to him at last ).

On the entertainment front I think we're going to have to have a re-think. The game of deck rounders had to be abandoned after we realised that once we'd put the fielders out to their allotted positions on the 100 yard line then we were left with no-one to helm the canoe. Next we tried rugby - the might of Russia against the bulk of Yorkshire. All went well until the scrum when we realised that it's difficult to spot the ball below when it's in 3 miles depth of water.

We've tried water skiing but every time we get the skis out then there's a big argument about who goes first so play has to be abandoned.We'll maybe try sledging tomorrow to celebrate the fact that there's snow in Yorkshire this week. Speaking of which, the Yorkshire flag is holding up well and we've had a further 196 applications today for naturalisation.

Tomorrows lunch should be a beauty as the Russian contingent have made a call on one of their THREE iridium phones to an unspecified office in their homeland for further supplies of the best caviare so we're expecting the supply submarine to surface forthwith!

But all this pales into insignificance when you realise that yesterday we baked fresh bread on board. Yes, really.

Neil for Tranquilizer crew.

Hello from Tranquillizer!

We celibrated the half way mark and a best day of 171 miles yesterday with some Bubbly, After Eights and Ferro Roche. We know how to live!

The food today should be much improved today as Cordon Bleu chef Ian is Mother. Having attempted to avoid cooking first time round by being sick, I tried to avoid it yesterday on the basis of if you do it badly enough you wont be asked again, but it doesnt seem to have worked. Colin and Neils fish went down very well as part of the celibrations last night.

Unfortunately all deck games have had to be cancelled due to loss of balls. No mermaids have been sighted (with of without the Sporting Life!) despite strenuous efforts and a good imagination! However there has been late night sightings of naked ghost aboard, this has caused considerable consternation as it may be frightening the horses! The Yorkshire side is doing well in the Tea drinking stakes with Rory and Neil leading the way.

Look out for another scintillating instalment tomorrow.  Rick

We are getting near the 1000 miles to go post & with rumours circulating that the first boats will soon be finishing we have decided it is time to raise our game. Despite the many enjoyable evenings we have spent at anchorage & in some very pretty harbors we are now determined to sail flat out 24 hours a day. So no more waterside tavernas, cold beers & icecream sundaes, the anchor will stay in its locker until St Lucia.

Another busy day today. A brief squall & heavy shower saw 7 men in the cockpit busy with the head & shoulders, the boat should smell sweeter tonite. We saw what we think was a Minke whale which hung around the boat for some time.

Don't forget all you good people at home only 22 more shopping days til Christmas,would love to help but now we are not stopping nights its rather more tricky.

All for now.

Ian on behalf of the crew of Tranquilizer ( the boat that is guaranteed not to get dandruff).

In the world  of offshore Bavaria fishing, you are only as good as your last catch. The fishing territory is lonely and dangerous, the conditions horrific, the stakes are high.... The beam trawler Tranquilizer had been struggling to catch fish since it set off from Lefkas, months ago.... despite this, the crew of the sister ship Phoebe have been reeling them in like no tomorrow, living like kings, and it was getting to be more than a bone of contention...... Come Gran Canaria, most crew changed, and for Tranquilizer, it was time to bite the bullet, blow the budget and hire in some top end Pro help in the fishing stakes, and bring their fortunes back, come hell or high water!. Now in the echelons of the Bavaria fishing stakes, few rank  higher than Neil 'Fins' Kimber...... Some say the man has gills, some that he was raised by salmon, some even say that he drinks with Captain Birds Eye........ So we flew him in to show us where we were going wrong.. From that day we have never looked back in the Fish Wars, a big barracuda and 2 decent dorado have all been caught, gutten, filleted and eaten, and we lead the competition 3-1, depite the efforts of the bitter and devious Barry 'Quda', his sidekick Tom 'The Crabs', and their arsenal of gear on the other boat..... 'Fins' is off on his holidays taking some superyachts to Martinique now, but the skills he taught are still with us, helping us stay on top, in the cut - throat world of 'Fish Wars'.......
Rory (don't call me feckin' Skip... ) SY Tranquilizer

Time for another thrilling installment of the fish wars!! Unfortunately we have not been able to catch anything today, this may be due to the loss of our ace fisherman 'Fins' Kimber. Phoebe has managed by some fluke to catch a Derado making the current score 2 Derado to 2 Derado and 1 Baracuda in our favour!

Overnight was quite eventful, a number of squalls threatened, with some interesting sheet lightening. We caught the edge of one, ably delt with by the Watch of Colin and Ian with Rorys assistance.

A large merchant vessel passed quietly across our stern in the early hours.

Since being mentioned in despatches there have been no further sightings of the naked ghost. We are puzzled as to why this should be?

Having made extensive sacrifice to King Neptune we aquired our own personal escort of a small Whale for several hours today.

Tune in at this time tomorrow for another scintillating installment of the Tranquillizer blogs!!    

Rick

Crikey Caruthers less than 300 nm to go

Sizzling sausages Saunders, chances of meeting up with my mermaid are starting to look a bit thin. Mind you, he added as his eyes lightened up in his tanned sailors face & he stroked his magnificent beard, I might forego my mermaid for a freshwater shower, cold beer, clean clothes, rum punch, icecream, quiet bed, terra firma & a beautiful St Lucian waitress serving me steak & chips with a nice salad on the side.

Just be careful said the wiseman, sailing is about destinations not ETA's, we're not there til we've tied up on the pontoon. Its all very well to want to motorsail the last 10% but we're wafi's & we signed up to sail not to motorboat so we must hope for the wind to stay strong & resist the temptation to use the iron sail as much as possible.

So what's it all been about said Alfie & where do we all go from here. Lets face it 3 weeks ago most of us had never met & now we've lived in a space of 320 sq ft 24 hours a day, practical slept together, shared the full joys of basic human existence, been literally thrown together every minute of every day & night.

Most of us wanted to tick a box (Caruthers says if he ever tries to tick a box again take his pen away & smack his wrist) & have an adventure. Well we certainly put a big tick in the box & it has been a heck of an adventure, has it been life changing, only time will tell, it takes a lot to change the life of a middleaged man (we get a bit set in our ways).

And where to from here :

Rory our intrepid boys own skipper will continue his life of daring do. Maybe back with Alex Thompson & the Hugo Boss team. Thompson holds the record for the most miles in 1 day in a single keel boat so we reckon next year if Rory can borrow the bosses boat (like the pun) then we could do it in 6 days & have 2 weeks longer in St Lucia.

The Russians will return to the jet set lives of minor oliagarchs having slightly improved their english & their cooking ability, but probably with a very strange view of what constitutes a typical englishman.

Us Brits, well we will return to our daily routines & humdrum existence, but hey Caruthers I've just thought of another box to tick. As for Fins Kimber we are delighted to report that he should be on the quay to welcome us in & having slipped away into the night with his super yachts & stewardesses, the least we thought we could do is put his name down for next year to do it again. Hopefully we will all at least meet up at the London boat show for a jar or 2 & a reminiss.

And what of the good ship Tranquilizer, well she will have her make up done & probably spend a bit of money in the fashion departments & then she is off on the old Caribbean Charter circuit. Lets face it the coral coves & sandy bays probably suit her better than the wide oceans because we reckon she's a bit of a party girl at heart.

So signing off on behalf of us all, but we promise at least one more blog from a bar somewhere round Rodney Bay.

Ian