5 degrees 33' South, 106 degrees 59' West

 

The good news is that since my last posting we have found the wind we were looking for and have spent the last several days romping along with fresh SE trade winds driving us up to 180 miles a day. The half way mark is in now our sights and I'm also pleased to be able to say that so far, nothing very exciting has happened on board. With the nearest land now quite a way away, dull is good! It is nice to settle into a routine which also helps when getting used to such a disrupted sleeping pattern. All those of you who know Lucy well, will know that she can normally fall asleep anywhere (restaurants, sofas, dining tables, nightclubs etc) but believe it or not on board she does seem to struggle to doze off especially when the boat is thundering along as we have been for the last few days.

 

We may be out in the middle of nowhere at the moment but you will be pleased to hear that despite this we are certainly not alone. We have the re-assuring company of a number of other yachts making the same passage and, twice a day, we check in to a radio net with 14 other boats all in the same piece of ocean. We each give our position and weather conditions and then there is a chance to report any issues or concerns, ask any questions and discus the weather forecasts for the next few days. The net is friendly and chatty and run by a Kiwi yacht, Minaret, on their way back to New Zealand to complete a second circumnavigation having taken 8 years to go around the second time!  It does mean people are keeping track of us and we know who else is around. We actually saw the yacht Scotty on the horizon a few days ago and today we know there is an American yacht called Windbird only 40 or so miles south of us. In this part of the world that makes us next door neighbours although they are probably not close enough to smell the wonderful fresh crusty loaf that Lucy has just removed from the oven.

 

The fishing has been good with two nice dorados supplementing the meagre rations on board, although I have lost two further lures while trying. There are some big beasts in the water here and sometimes it is better that they break the line or straighten the hook. One small boat reported hooking a full size marlin last week. It tail-walked past the back of the boat and then (fortunately) got away. The couple on board were just trying to work out what to do with it. They really did not need quite so much for supper and didn't fancy sharing the cockpit with an irate thousand kilo fish.