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Pindar 40 - Message from the boat

Posted 1 year ago

Pindar 40 - Message from the boat
Ha ha, last night was hectic and very funny. We were both on a high as our plan of attack on the Canaries had worked - we were on over drive to work the boat as well as we could. As we sailed between the islands with the big kite up the sea was flat, but the wind was playing all sorts of tricks on us. We wanted to sail well south of the island to avoid the acceleration zone - I think we failed to do this. It was about 0300 and time one of us hit the bunk for a while. So Alexia went down below, about 20 minutes later she woke with the humming of the hull as we were surfing down waves in 30 knots with the big kite up. So down came the spinnaker - getting it down was a mission in itself. As soon as the spinnaker was on the deck the wind died, so back up she went. This went on most of the night, gybing due to wind shifts, dropping due to the gusts. They were perfectly timed to the point when one of us decided we needed to sleep - in the end we were just in our bunk with full foulies and head torch on at the ready - oh and our new spinlock life jackets! Today has been beautiful - the sun is shining, and hot (not too much for the whitey), the sea is fairly flat, and we have around 13 to 15 knots of wind. Good boat speed, great to helm the boat and play with the little waves in the sunshine. I think if everyone spent a day at sea like today we would all work harder at our job as the current caretakers of our planet. The oceans are one of the only element of the Earth that does not contribute to carbon in the atmosphere. In fact the ocean is the earth's main kidney for the carbon dioxide we produce. For every molecule of C02 on the planet, there are 50 in the sea. The ocean has absorbed nearly 50% of all the CO2 emitted by humans, whilst life on land continues to contribute to the production of greenhouse gases. Scientists have recently discovered that not all of our oceans have the same ability to store carbon, in fact the North Sea stores a massive 20% of all carbon ever emitted by humans, whilst the North Atlantic basin hasn't absorbed any. The problem is that this is not a sustainable dust bin for the industrial world's waste. The worry is that as the oceans warm they will absorb less CO2. This can be likened to a can of Coke - a cold coke always has more fizz. So that's my day dreaming for the day. Hope all is hunky dory. Love Jo xxx Full Story »

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