St Helena to Salvador - Day 4

Eowyn
Tue 25 Jan 2011 11:00
 
Éowyn is underway to Salvador in position 15:31.484S 012:27.966W
 
We have sailed quite well so far, but now the forecast is for very light winds for the next week. We have the asymmetric spinnaker up but are only managing 4 knots or so. The yachts which left a day earlier have much better winds and are steaming ahead! We have to save our fuel for the very lightest of the conditions.
 
Life onboard is pleasant though, with fine weather making for relaxed sailing.
 
On the menu front, the first night we had a chicken pasta, followed by Boerkwors courtesy of Mike. I made an apricot bread & butter pudding to follow. Last night was curry night with a beef jalfrezi and tonight Bob will be cooking haggis, tatties & neaps for Burns Night. We have only one more night of fresh food then we are down to canned meat. Some of it, particularly of French origin is OK. The bread runs out today, so I have to get baking later on.
 
At 1000 today, the spinnaker downhaul broke. this is quite dramatic but not as bad as it seems as the sail just flies like a flag and is quite easy to recover. The broken rope was soon mended and the sail back up and flying. The only other breakage on this leg so far has been the faucet outlet of the watermaker but a temporary repair seems to be lasting.
 
The SSB net is now quite difficult as there is more than 500 miles separation between the yachts. The Generals (Rui & Antonio) are in the middle of the fleet and provide the best SSB relay. Chessie, Crazy Horse & Ocean Jasper leave St Helena today and so the whole fleet is now at sea.