Sunday 20th June – Day 14 At Sea (Lini’s Journal )

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Wed 23 Jun 2010 17:14
We moved the ship’s clocks on again today so are now UTC -1 hour.
The weather was another reminder that we head ever closer to England:
Dark grey sea beneath us, a blanket of deep grey sky over us and
drizzle; a year’s supply of it! The SW wind continues to prevent us
heading for Flores but with an intermittent east going current we
decided to put a gybe in and head north(ish). At one point the current
was so strong our heading was 50° different from our course over the
ground.
After ages of being bounced around on starboard tack, the contents
of the cupboards had finally settled to either the front or the back.
The gybe had all the added excitement of not only giving us five
minute’s exercise but then spending the rest of the morning wedging
inflated bags, towels, non-slip matting, in fact ANYTHING into gaps in
cupboards to stop the unbelievable din down below as items rattled to
the opposite side: Ten months into our adventure the cupboards are not
stuffed as tightly. Prevented from napping I tried in vain to locate a
couple more persistent rattles and resorted eventually to drowning the
noises out with the iPod and ‘Lini’s Classical Tubtime’ playlist.
Instead of sleeping my mind danced and floated to moving chillout
classics; I was back in ballet classes………
After a previous ETA of Tuesday morning we now zig-zag roughly in the
right direction and should get there by Christmas! Two weeks at sea
and routine takes over, we are at one with the elements and I find it
difficult to imagine the hustle bustle of people, traffic and ‘normal
life’. I love being at sea (bar storms!).
After serving up tomato and basil soup with Si’s ham roll for
lunch, his little face dropped when vegetable curry was produced for
dinner. “Yum! More veggies!” He exclaimed with a look that would have
killed for a large juicy steak. “Are we nearing the end of this
batch?” He enquired. Was that a question or a request I asked myself.
Well, we wouldn’t want sluggish digestive systems with all this
inactivity would we? Joined up meat for dinner tomorrow then as the
‘Festinas’ like to call it. Supper wasn’t all bad with chocolate
brownie and custard for his Sunday pud.
I was desperately tired as I snuggled into my nest. We both slept
very deeply finding it difficult to wake for watches. The moon put in
its first appearance tonight and I’d almost forgotten what a
difference a glowing semi sphere of Double Gloucester can make to the
atmosphere. A soft orange path led to the stern and floodlit the
cockpit with warm tones. We were lucky to keep enough wind to sail
through most of the night.