Spencer Update 6/20 ...

Saturday 6/20/09  5:00 pm

 

Position:

36 degrees 09 minutes North

07 degrees 39 minutes West

Approx. 100 west of The Strait of Gibraltar

Hello All:

All is well here on Irishman...The smells coming out of the galley have us all waiting in  anticipation for dinner. It's crazy how fast things can change out here.  Less than 48 hours ago we had our foul weather gear on and Tropical storm force winds.  Today we are laying out on the deck sun tanning.

We are about 100 miles west of the Strait of Gibraltar.  Wind and seas have almost totally died and we are motor sailing at around 9 knots.  During our rough conditions on Thursday our engine starting making some strange noises. Kind of like it was struggling. Yesterday it actually did die on us a couple of times.  We have figured out that we obtained some very dirty fuel in the Azores.  We have filters that trap anything so it won't get into the engine but these filters are becoming clogged much faster than normal causing fuel not to flow to the engine.  The rough conditions have probably stirred up all the junk that usually settles to the bottom of the tanks. Hopefully as long as we keep these filters clean we should be fine.  

We are eating very well out here with our Italian chef Stefano.  Last night was had roasted chicken and potatoes.  Lunch today was stuffed portbello mushrooms and a nice salad.  Of course Harold and I have plenty of hot sauce on board that we put on almost everything.... usually without insulting the chef.  

The ship traffic has increased tremendously as we approach the Strait of Gibraltar. Tonight is going to be a busy night watching the radar and avoiding these hudge cargo ships.

For our Trivia question on 6/17/09,  the winner is Michael Roach in Arizona that correctly defined the "Horse Lattitudes".  Rob in St. Thomas was disqualified for being way smarter than anybody else I know.....  Just kidding ... Rob, you win a T-shirt as well.  As for Michael Roach, I think I still have a St. Louis Cardinals World Series Championship shirt in my closet for you!!!

Trivia Question #2:

The northern county of Prekmura in Croatia is famous or kown for what?

That's all for now on Irishman.......

Spencer