Life on board from Ireland to Iceland

I don't think Arne Hedlund designed Teddy to be a racing boat but Josh wouldn't have any of it. He's determined to get Teddy going as fast as she can. Josh conjured up a makeshift spinnaker with the ganoa and staysail when the wind was behind us. When he's not tinkering with Teddy, or checking out the inside of his eyelids or sitting on the loo, he is busy multitasking while at the helm; studying, fishing, all three tasks simultaneously.

Teddy never sailed like this before, until Josh got on board.

Helming with his feet while studying and fishing.

Nick, on one particular day, said he feels like he's a cuckoo bird, sitting at the cockpit while I keep bringing him food. The sea was calm and we were basking in the warm sunshine. Teddy was steady. Breakfast consisted of honey dew melon, followed by crepe with apricot jam and bacon, followed by left over lamb curry from the previous night, followed by coffee and tea. We didn't skip lunch nor dinner that day.

I didn't have much luck with fishing on my previous passage from New Zealand to French Polynesia, covering over 2400 miles of ocean. My first attempt at fishing on Teddy initially resulted in me getting really excited because it appeared to be a big one. I screamed for a good 5 minutes for Josh to wake up from his slumber to assist. Nick was of course oblivious to my cries from the cockpit. What we thought was a huge fish dunking in and out from the surface quickly turned out to be a fulmar. It was in shock when we finally got it on board. The hook went through both feet. It was very unsteady on its feet when we released it on top of the dinghy. The no-fish curse seems to have followed me.

The bird and myself were both in shock. I was after fish for dinner, not a bird.


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