The last few days are the slowest!

ChilliOyster
Dave & Becky Werrett
Tue 9 Dec 2008 20:49

9th December 2008

Position 14:12N 49:41W

Another hard days sailing in blistering sunshine after a starry starry night, we had good winds throughout the night. Yesterday was a record for us at 162miles our best yet. Hope to get a good one in today as well, the Grib file said we should have 20knts plus all day, but it died off in the heat of the afternoon, down to 8 to 10knts, we had the cruising chute up but not the spinnaker as we are 120 to the wind and we do not want to go further south, we are almost on the same latitude as St Lucia, the ocean flow is drifting us south.

Had a cracking breakfast/brunch of egg bacon and the trimmings, Becky said it all needed eating up, no one complained! Even the dog did well. She has developed her routines, and actually enjoys her regular drenching in sea water to cool her down. I think she sees it as part of the family activity,  as we do it to each other all the time. A quick bucket over the head, on with the shampoo, a good lather up and that is the mornings wash. The dog joins in!

Into the mid 600s to go now and should break the 500 tonight, so it will be just like a quick run across Biscay after that. The winds look set to continue.

We have no idea what time zone we should be on but I am sure we are well out, on our clocks it does not get dark until 8:00pm plus and not light until the same time in the morning. This is messing up our watch pattern a bit. I know when we have been in the Caribbean before it goes dark at 6 and light at 6 the next day.

Still keeping in touch with boats around us, there are quite a few now and I guess as we all home in on St Lucia, we will get closer, no yachts in sight last night but a huge tanker went behind us. Nice bright ¾ moon last night so when we arrive it should not matter whether it is day or night we will be able to go straight on in. If I remember rightly it is not too tricky an entrance anyway.

Morale on board is good and the kids continue to work the lap tops on overtime, film after film after game etc. Becky and I watched Mama Mia last night while on watch: naughty to do but a good silly jolly film for the night.

Lots of complaints on the SSB radio discussions now about the weather and lack of wind, people are stretching their resources, many expected to be in by now and like us are still some days out. Still it is Wednesday tomorrow and the machine is telling us if we keep this up we will be in by Saturday evening. The term this years ‘float across’ has become the jargon of the day.

Sorry to say that I have grown a beard, well sort of as it is a bit straggly, this was by popular request. I though the request would be rescinded as soon as it became manifest but hey no she likes it, so I guess it will stay until say Christmas.

Looking back at this blog it is a bit of a ramble, clearly a symptom of the same demise as yesterday’s blog, we have settled into a routine and we are concentrating on sailing the boat. The little frisson we had today was the cruising chute managed to get itself all tangled around the forestay and right up to the top of the mast. This can be a bit dramatic as it is a huge sail and there was a fair bit of wind: when we got it down the halyard that holds it up remained tangled around the top of the forestay, the obvious remedy was to send Jordan up the mast, with a lump in his throat he went off to get the bosun’s chair to go up the mast. A the same time I was studying the top of the mast with binoculars, I could see that the tangle was not that bad in fact it had caught on the head sail shackle onto the furling mechanism, by unfurling a bit of head sail it came out. Jordan asked if he could he still go up, however I suspect this was bravado and for once parental refusal was not challenged at all!    

The day was finished off nicely by a double catch, Jordan and I had fishing lines out and almost simultaneously we both got a bite. I landed a proper tuna and Jordan thinks his is an amberjack; both are a respectable 5-9lb. The tuna put up more of a fight than any of the larger fish we have caught.  So straight from the rod to the plate, our fresh supplies have become scarce and the ones we have managed to hold onto are slightly dubious, a strange aroma wafts around the boat when Becky opens the fridge, which has become nothing more than a cupboard in the dark!  So fresh food is appreciated