(Blog No.35) 1/2 way today!
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Sun 5 Dec 2010 13:46
15:48.83N 33:28.41W
Sunday 5th December.(Day 14)
Noon
Position:
15 deg 49'N 33 deg 28'W
Daily
Run: 114'
Average
Speed:
4.75 Knots (20.4 hours of motoring during last 24 hours)
Total Average
Speed: 4.59 Knots
Total Distance Covered: 1545'
Distance to
go: 1598'
No. of motoring hours: 56.9
hours
Quote for the day: "Culture is like jam. The
less you have, the more you spread it!" (Sylvie's Mum).
We have added over 300 miles to the route by heading
south. (So have most boats I think), so the 1/2-way mark will be passed
today! There is a bottle of champagne in the fridge ready to
celebrate. Lets hope the 2nd half of the crossing is less frustrated by
the wind!
And still we are awaiting the Trade winds
- but they are starting this morning! Sorry to keep going on about these
winds - but it is the big issue out here! Yesterday we received an
updated overall weather situation report from ARC HQ weather man
assuring us this time that they really are coming and will be
establishing themselves on Sunday/Monday. 'Hold on... be patient... no need to
get more frustrated' etc etc... he tells us all. We had decided
to motor for 24 hours (using up valuable fuel of course) and have been urged to
head further south still (you will note yet another large kink in our course
line over the last day). We are heading SW to latitude 15deg
30'N which is much further south than is normally needed. Apparently the boats
further west and south have already picked up the trades - only we boats further
north still hunting for them! We have been downloading the GRIB
forecasts from US and they have been agreeing with ARC info as
well.
Hasn't been a lot to tell you over last 24 hours.
Domestic day on Saturday. It was Dhobi day for Sylvie and I, so a special
dispensation had to be granted to use about 20 - 25 litres of water.
Catou looked like a laundry with all our clothes hanging along a rope
strung fore-aft in the rigging along the starboard side. We had to
string it up, since there is so much salt on everything on deck from the spray.
We also cleaned ship again, taking advantage of the calm weather.
All Saturday the water was like glass - hardly a
ripple.
We miss the moon! When we left Las Palmas, a full
moon rose each evening, and we had glorious moonlit nights for about 8 or 9
nights, but it has waned and we haven't seen it for some nights. Last night the
sea was so flat that each of the brighter stars had their own reflection in the
water - looked very pretty, but doesn't help us get to St. Lucia.
Big event for Saturday - a three masted sail cruising
ship suddenly appeared from the east. Almost on a direct collision course with
us (hadn't seen anything for days, and then when you do, it's on a collision
course). I called them up on the VHF and we had a chat. They were bound
for Antigua with cruise passengers on board. She was called Sea Cloud ll.
They couldn't set their square rigged sails either without the Trade
winds.
We swam (well- had our usual drag behind the boat at
about 6pm!). We found a bottle of rum in the liquor locker, so Ben & I
had a rum & Coke for a change. Wow! the stuff was strong - I slept like a
baby after my watch.
Sylvie's finger is still hurting. We take the
splints off each day and check it. It must have been fractured we
think. Less swelling but quite bruised, and a little more comfortable in
the splint. Seems to be the best thing to keep in the splint for now so
she won't bump it on anything.
Eh Oui! Toujours en mer est c'est TRES frustrant!!! On
en a au moins pour une autre 14 jours quand on pensait arriver vers le 12 / 15
decembre.
Les conditions sont exceptionnelles cette annee. Pas ou
trop de vent ou bien dans la mauvaise direction.
Mes doigts sont un peu mieux (je me suis prise les
doigts entre le cordage et l'arche. Une chance que je n'ai pas ete coince entre
les poullies!!!) , mais je suis certaine que mon annulaire droit a une
jointure cassee. Je me suis faite une 'bequille' avec des bouts de bois.
L'enflure est moindre mais c'est tres bleu et disons tres sensible. Mon majeur a
perdu des bouts de peau mais est seulement abime. Cela ne m'empeche pas de faire
mes gardes mais laver la vaisselle et cuisiner s'averent un bon
defi.
Nous atteindrons mi-chemin cet apres-midi. La bouteille
de champagne est deja dans le frigo!
On nous predit du vent a partir de cet apres-midi. Les
emotions que nous vivons sont extremes: joie intense suivie de grands
decouragements.Mais tout cela est normal quand on est a la merci des
elements. En general, notre moral tient le coup et nous trouvons le temps de
rire et de se compter des blagues.
Je vous laisse en pensant tres souvent a vous
tous. Le temps est beau et le froid et la neige que les anglais ont en ce moment
ne me manquent pas du tout!!!
Grosses bises des Tropiques.
Hopefully, tomorrow we will be much happier bunnies and
be hurtling along westwards towards St. Lucia eating up the miles. Best
wishes Paul, Sylvie and Ben.
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