Farewell to an old friend and hallo to a new game – Day 10

The weather

Today's log is being written in conditions that can only be described as miserable (not the crew you understand, just the weather) – a palette of greys (at least 50 Shades!), a pall of clouds and an overwhelming dampness. We expect better. It would be nice if having used a towel one emerged drier than one started – not the case today, particularly if, like the captain, one drops it in the shower. Nevertheless the wind is staying pretty strong allowing us, despite a more southerly course to move a further166 miles closer to St Lucia in 24 hours.

Dawn day 10

Half way confirmed

As expected we reached the half way point yesterday afternoon, just in time for happy hour, and to make things a bit special eschewed the gin and tonic in favour of a frisky young Rioja Crianza. It went down very nicely, but remarkably quickly – I think G&Ts last longer. In view of the conditions Jeff has been permitted to postpone his swim until the weather improves and the wind abates – watch this space.

Same place different poison

A passing

I regret to inform you of the loss of one of the most useful members of the ship's company – the Muggi. For those unfamiliar with the Muggi, this square chunk of blue polystyrene foam is the key to a satisfying afternoon tea while under way (holding our mugs securely in place) and is absolutely essential to the serving of G&Ts at happy hour. The wind just whipped it away as a careless sailor took his last sip – he has been disciplined and I think it would be unfair to name Jake as the culprit. More important is how to manage without it. Luckily our crew's ingenuity knows no bounds and a contraption of bungee cord strung between the bars of the cockpit table has proved an ideal replacement – it even steadies the packet of hobnobs at tea-time.

Muggi replaced

New fun

To provide more focus to the musical side of happy hour we have decided to give every crew member the chance to choose their 8 Desert Island Discs – we will then attempt to play as many of the tracks as we can from our assorted Ipads and Ipods and record the lists for posterity. Last night we took a stroll through Jeff's musical history and today he will come up with his definitive list. Good stuff so far.

Weather update

It is now absolutely lashing down – thank goodness I am on log duties, inside the brightly lit , air-conditioned saloon (this is a plug for the perfectly configured Moody 45DS – call Boat Sales International at Hamble Point if you would like one too). And now the wind has shifted and the soup's all over the floor – Happy days.

In the wet and in the dry

Andrew, Lucinda, Jake and Jeff

Noon Thursday 6^th December 2012