Mid Atlantic happenings

Diatonic
Anthony Warr
Tue 1 Dec 2009 22:09
22 19.2N 29 02.0W
 
1200 hrs UTC Mon  30th Nov. 2009
 
Now about third of the way. The last 2 days have seen us make quite good speeds varying from 6.2 knots average on a sea with just medium swell to 7.5 knots overnight but with lumpy seas interfering with everyones sleep. However the sleep deprivation may have been due to G & T's followed by red wine with our fillet steak last night.
 
Bob caught our third Lampuka (the first fish we threw back) which we are having for lunch second day running. It is quite delicious fried with a bit of flour and salt & pepper. We have instructed Bob to catch a varied range of fish but only every other day since we have so much food to consume. The skipper needs the aft cabin bunk back.
 
The weather has been pleasant needing the bimini up most days. It is put away at night so the watch keeper can observe the fantastic starry universe  without light polution (if they are awake). A full moon for part of the night is very welcome though.
We hardly need to touch the 'twins' with two poles rigged although last night we had to rouse ouselves to make 15 degree course alteration to port. The grib charts show the 15 knot ENE winds declining a little in 3 days time so we are heading south by 150 miles to pick up some 20 knot winds hopefully. The boat is sailing well and just loves these downhill trade winds.
 
The 1 hour watch keeping routines during the day are really not necessary since someone is always about washing, fishing or sleeping on deck. The rotating 3 hour on 6 off watches at night are not too bad. We have a bet on who spots the first ARC boat so are reasonable vigilant.
 
Had a lot of problems with computers so emails out are not  too frequent. The Iridium phone is great.
 
Met a few boats we wintered in Malta with so hoping to beat them across.
 
Thats all for now
 
Tony