This promises to be the last day of our Atlantic crossing.

 

All is going well so far. We currently have 121 miles to run to St Lucia. The wind has dropped completely, and we are still motoring in a flat calm sea. The forecast is for more wind later today (it is 4pm as I write this) so we are hopeful that our last night at sea will be under sail and not motoring.  However, we have now used the majority of our diesel and may not have enough to motor all the way to St Lucia. But, if we can get some wind  - even just for a few hours  - we will have enough. If the wind continues light, we may have to swim the last few miles!

 

The fleet has been converging and we have seen several yachts on the horizon today and passed quite close to a French yacht on the way to Martinique. These are the first living souls we have seen since the 27th November when we saw the French catamaran. Ironic then that the boat we saw today were French as well! Still, Regis was able to have a good chat with them before we left them in our wake. (they had their sails up, but had no diesel left, so were having to wait for the wind.)

 

This morning we were all saddened and subdued by the sad news of the death of a crew member aboard one of the ARC yachts, Ocean Wanderer,yesterday. We talked about how difficult it must be for the crew and the Skipper and discussed how we would cope with such an eventuality. I am pleased to say though, that the skipper was on our radio sked this morning and sounded calm and under control - if a little shaken.

 

I have commented before about the temperature increasing, but the last few days - since the very calm weather has been here - have seen the thermometer rise significantly and we are all seeking shade whenever we venture into the cockpit. I'm sure this will continue when we hit land.

 

All being well, we should arrive around lunch time tomorrow, which is about 4pm UK time. We will add a blog and facebook entry after we have arrived (and before we have too much rum punch!!)

 

John