Sailing around the World, ( presently at sea between Vanuatu and Mackay , Australia. )

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sun 18 Jul 2010 18:01
SUNDAY  18th   JULY   2010       Night 3
 
00.00hrs   John's watch.....We have sailed without motoring 401 miles since we left Port Vila last Thursday at midday,
                and we sailed 106  of those miles in the last 12 hours,  thats good going for us.
 
03.00hrs,  Aileens watch.....Another beautifull starrey night, the wind is 30 knots on the beam and we are scooting along
               towards the Great barrier Reef in great style, 
 
06.00hrs   Skippers watch.....  Its such a joy to watch the dawn break, and so many people never witness it at all, I remember when
               we were teenagers, my brother Rom and myself used to go out hunting rabbits at 4 am in the morning, a few mornings each week in the
               summer time, It made great pocket money for us, ( god ! how things have changed since then. no one has to do those kind of things
               anymore. ) .Even then, we always marvelled at the breaking dawns, and on the way home on the motorbikes about 7am, everyone was still
               asleep in their beds,  Crikey and we had a half day done already..
 
09.00hrs   Radio call  ..........Well we be blowed down,,  The two Sundeer 60's have taken off like shit off a shovel, They have doubled the lead
               on us to approx 60 miles, WOW   thats impressive, In the 10,000 miles we have sailed so far, they never before got that far ahead of us,  
               especially in such a short period of time...  we are just bowled over and when you think about it, we are covering over 200 miles
               a day, which is the absolute limit of " A Ladys" performance..  well done guys and doll.
              
               Meanwhile, we are well ahead of the rest of the fleet, the only boat near us is " Kalliope III "  from Spain, she is approx 15 miles
               behind us,  Kalliope is a Hanse 531, and they are fast boats,
               Its great to hear all the different nationalities on the radio, and how they all react to being on air, We like " the Bubbly Bev " currently
               sailing on " Tucanon"  a catamaran,  She is just gas and full of the joys,
 
12.00hrs  Midday.........Distance travelled............................. 503 nautical miles   ( 1 nautical mile =  1.1 miles )
                                  Distance to the Barrier Reef................510 nautical miles
                                  Distance in the last 24hrs...................208 nautical miles
               Weather:-  clear skies,  moderate/ rough sea's,   27  /  36 knots of wind aft of beam . speed  9 -  11 knots,
 
               We had a school of " Risso's " dolphins with us for an hour or so,  These dolphins do not ride the bow waves like other dolphins,
               they just escorted us along on our journey to Aus, for a while.
               Gosh, its hard to imagine that we have sailed all this way , and now,  we are nearly in Australia,,  A great feeling of achievment.
 
13.00hrs  Lunch, we havent mentioned lunch for a while, but now we have to get rid of all our food before we reach Australia,  
              So lunch today is :-   cold stuffed porksteak,
                                             Prawns and marie rose sauce,
                                             hard boiled eggs,
                                             raw carrots...   ( the ruffage)
                                             bread and butter,
                                             packet slices of ham.   
              We will be like stuffed pigs , by the time we arrive in Aus.  right now, who cares..........
 
15.00hrs,  we were still sailing like the hammers of hell,
18.00hrs   There was a lovely 1/2 moon lying on its back right over our heads,  just lovely again to see the reflection of the moon shimmer 
                across the sea at night.
 
20 .oohrs   Dinner was by Scotty,  and consisted of a Cottage pie,  In fairness to the man, he spent hours preparing it all, whats more ( previously
                mentioned) the onions are soooooooo strong, we were all crying when he was chopping them in the Galley...  sob,sob.
                Anyway, we had it in the " Royal Saloon" as it was too chilly outside in the " Starlight Restaurant" and it was great .... yum yum
                We also cooked at the same time other meat from the deep freezer , to be used for cold lunches over the next few days.
 
The Night Watches :-        21.00hrs  /   00.00hrs .................   Scotty
                                       00.00hrs  /   03.00hrs..................   Aileen
                                       03.00hrs  /  06.00hrs......................skipper
                                       06.00hrs  /  09.00hrs.......................Scotty
 
Boy, we were shagged from all the eating today, and whats more, there's more tomorrow and the dayafter, and the dayafter, and..........ohhhh
 
thats all for now,
 
Signed :-    Stephen Hyde    ( Skipper )