21:22.4N 35:30.5W

Arjc
Tue 4 Dec 2012 14:38

As time goes by - Days 7 and 8

Time and Tide

And so we go on – the passage of time measured principally by the log (which with the help of the GPS tells us that yesterday morning (Monday) we passed the 1,000 mile mark in our journey of approximately 2,700 miles to St Lucia, a fact later celebrated at happy hour - see below), and the slow but relentless growth of the captain's whiskers (calculated at 0.00025 inches per thousand miles sailed.

The captain's whiskers

BTW as we make further progress to the west, we have moved the boat's time by one hour to GMT-1. At noon today (Tuesday) we have 1,528 miles to go.

Warfare

We are now subject (particularly at night) to relentless aerial bombardment by squadrons of flying fish. Despite direct hits on both Andrew and Jeff, the guys have reluctantly signed up to a policy (instigated by Lucinda) of non-violent response that attempts to return the fish unharmed to the sea. Despite this there is nothing much that can be done for the kamikaze crews that get through in the dark.

A kamikaze flying fish

Kit

Everything is now working except the autopilot which we have now officially established, after dismantling the drive unit, is missing a few teeth and therefore officially broken without possibility of repair. We hope that this serves as a salutary reminder to everyone reading this that it really does pay to look after your teeth – floss your motors regularly!

Honing our steering skills

Celebrations and entertainment

Yesterday's happy hour was especially jolly as we celebrated our first 1,000 miles. G&Ts all round (well almost, as Lucinda is maintaining her sobriety, presumably saving herself for a complete binge when we arrive). The standard of cuisine has continued to impress: highlights of the last two days have included a lovely salad of tuna, avocado and all sorts of healthy stuff, that started off as as a salade nicoise, but had to be downgraded to a nice salad as the eggs were thrown across the saloon when a wave took the helmsman off-guard; some very nice fish with capers and limes and a great, traditional British chicken tikka marsala. Happy hours and dinner were served to the accompaniment of Newton Faulkner, Massive Attack (spot the link), Lana Del Rey,The Kinks and Justin Hayward.

Still more routines and rituals

A real highlight of at least every other day is the grand Opening of the Mail – we send the log, download the weather and position reports and then wait expectantly while the laptop checks for incoming mail. Messages for general consumption are then read out and savoured, while private mail is enjoyed in privacy later. Thanks especially to Sophie for making us all laugh, to John, who managed eventually to overcome the problem of us giving him an email address with a missing letter, and to the captain's wife whose small but perfectly formed messages (much like their sender) have kept the captain's morale up, thus avoiding the unpleasantness of floggings and keel-haulings.

Happiness is a shower of rain

Andrew, Lucinda, Jake and Jeff

Noon Tuesday 4th December