Plodding north

Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Tue 3 Jul 2012 12:33
64 00.00 N, 003 31.40 E

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY to Philip and Matthew. You wouldn't enjoy it here 'tho...

The wind is now from the ENE as forecast, but a bit stronger: a steady F5 rather than the F3 - 4 predicted by the grib file I downloaded in the small hours of this morning. So were making reasonable speed hard on starboard tack nearly in the right direction but it's banging and crashing and lurching into a lumpy head sea and we're both getting rather tired. The day is dry and reasonably bright however.

No real cooking has been possible, but Fe managed to make a risotto yesterday evening: a herculean task which took an hour. James managed to fix the heads (aka loo) which would no longer pump out: doing it while being shaken around and feeling queasy only adding to his existing hatred of plumbing. Fortunately we had the necessary spares on board to replace the non-return valve in the outlet. And Savlon and plasters.

To Elisabeth: many thanks for the Norwegian forecasts: perfect. We are still in Storeggia I believe, but hope to be be in the area covered by the arctic ones sometime tonight. The general situation / synopsis is particularly useful.

@Hannah Hudson; bring a woollen jumper the fleece just doesn't cut it the same way !!