Absolutely flying!

Alize
Mike Somerville
Sun 9 Dec 2012 12:32

16:19.8N 47:02.6W

Early yesterday morning, a flying fish hit Tm in the head whilst on watch. Tim inspected the fish, no damage.  The fish inspected Tim likewise and both parties separated amicably.

The wind yesterday and today has been a shifty NE around 17 to 20kts with gusts up to 30 in the rain squalls and we’ve had full main and a goose winged, polled out 80% genoa.  George, our Autopliot, has been doing his thing but seems to get in a tantrum now and then and drops out (stops steering) several times a day; just to keep us on our toes.  Many theories exist as to why this may be but we reckon the hidden carrots have something to do with it.

Talking of carrots, a search party successfully located them in the skipper’s cabin slightly worse for wear.  The heat and pounding action hadn’t been kind to the poor soles and they were designated fish food.

The watermaker has been in action and we have now refilled our personal water bottles with great tasting de-salinated water. The genset continues to keep our batteries charged nicely so ships systems are working well.

The weather this weekend has been warm and overcast with clearing skies and hopes of a less humid, sunnier day tomorrow.  Right now, Alize is doing 8kts downwind with a happy team and is absolutely flying.

The super winds have allowed us to make a record daily run of 185 miles – an average of 7.7 knots! Our high was 13.3 on one surf yesterday evening.

Regards to all,

Tim, Mike, Barbara & Mike

PS We are restricting our email access over this weekend until more credit can be added to our satphone account tomorrow! So don’t be surprised that we are only sending this one blog for two daysJ