Day twenty three - now we're shifting!

Adonde
Neil & Tracy Batcheler
Wed 10 Jan 2007 19:08
Noon position 13:16.2N 56:55.8W
 
Day's run a crowd pleasing 150nm!   
 
Well I'll be, we waited long enough to hit our stride didn't we! Having made a concerted effort to increase our average speed to arrive in Barbados in daylight, the conditions were with us for once and we achieved a trip-best of 150nm in 24 hours. Never mind that's what I thought we'd be doing every 24 hours, it'll have to do.
 
It was a pretty wet and windy night last night, with lots of squalls passing over. Once we got the gennaker up this morning we've been going really well - the wind picked up and we braved it out and left the gennaker up, making a continuous 8kts for hours and at one point hitting a peak and best-ever 15.6kts! Admittedly this was while surfing down a big roller and it didn't last long, but it made Tracy squeak anyway!
 
We're rapidly approaching the 100-miles-to-go mark, and should, barring problems, arrive in Bridgetown before lunchtime tomorrow. Whereupon there shall be much kissing of terra firma, I shouldn't wonder. We've managed to keep ourselves occupied (and awake) during the long night watches by reading plenty of crappy paperbacks and doing crosswords (thanks Heather and Keith!), but we're both looking forward to a nice long sleep when we get there - anything over three hours will be fine thanks!
 
So, this should be the last despatch from the front before landfall in Barbados, we look forward to telling you all about it tomorrow!!