Light in the darkness

Saturday 9th June

we had an amazing show last night, courtesy of Mother Nature. The scene was
set as darkness fell. The heavy cloud cover ensured no light from the moon
could penetrate the inky blackness, as we sped along in a brisk 20-25 knot
breeze from stage left. As the darkness deepened, with no sense of where
the sea ended and sky began, the show began. The spray from the hull began
to glow with an intense white-green phosporescence and the wavetops all
around us, as far as we could see, were etched with pearlescent foam, as if
topped in guache from an artist's pencil. Millions of zooplankton
stimulated into light by our passage were in the water flying from the hull,
giving an impression of sailing through an underlit sea. Jangada seemed to
relish the experience too, flicking shining spume high into the air with her
bow where it hung for a moment before being whisked aross the deck by the
wind.
Our normal watch system forgotten, we spent the whole night up on deck,
taking turns at helming while the other crouched in the cuddy, our grinning
faces illuminated by the amazing light show. Jangada's rudder plowed a deep
fluorescent furrow, streching behind us like a vapour trail, into the inky
Atlantic, inches from our feet. A truly memorable night which neither of us
will forget.

Trevor