21 days at sea

Associate3
Chris & Katie Russell
Sun 10 Dec 2017 22:13
13:37.82N 57:13.60W
 
A much lighter wind day today also saw the ocean swell start to flatten. Following breakfast we brought out our 'Blue Water Runner' sail and hoisted it from the deck, keeping it up until sunset. It kept us going quite well as the breeze lightened all day until we were not quite making 5 knots. A lighter winds night means that we have changed to a full main and poled genoa so that when the wind dies - as expected - we can then bring the 'iron sail' into being (the engine). We have enough fuel to motor tonight and tomorrow through expected light winds and we may just decide to do that as we don't expect new good wind now until Tuesday - and  having now been at sea for 21 days we would like to party
 
It has been quite amazing - none of us have ever experienced anything like this before - 6 of us for over three weeks in a 46 foot boat with only us for company. More reflections of this in later blogs but so far there has not been a cross word and everyone has enjoyed the laughter, banter and sharing the experience, working together as a team. Mind you we couldn't go anywhere else!
 
Today we were visited by a large pod of dolphins and a gannet - we have been visited by the odd sea bird throughout the trip even though we have been over 1000 miles from land. None have hitched a ride on the boat as yet
 
We heard Paul's Desert Island Discs (DID) yesterday and David's this evening - both were most entertaining and widened our knowledge of both them and their musical tastes. Each of the crew DID has presented an eclectic mix of music and memories and we are sure will prove to be additions to all our music in the future
 
So - penultimate night at sea - hopefully a quiet one
 
216 miles to go - a simple trip from the Hamble to Brest - and without the tides
 

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