Day 5 - Christmas Eve - 91nm !

Mor Toad / Moy Toad
David and Jocelyn Fawcett
Wed 24 Dec 2014 13:11
21:00.40N 24:34.08W

Dolphins at Dusk.

Yesterday was a pretty calm day and the sea pretty flat but I'll come to that later. We had been looking out for signs of wildlife again all day and had yet again seen one lone bird this time black circling the boat then flying off and nothing else. We had supper around 6.30pm and it was a pleasant evening and the sun went down that bit later ( we also now have a finger nail moon just above the horizon) so we sat on deck for a while chatting, eventually Dan went to bed as it was his watch later and David and I went downstairs to do few jobs by which time it was dark. Dan suddenly burst out of his cabin and said I think there are Dolphins outside I can hear something clicking and squeaking through the hull and sure enough there they were circling the boat, difficult to see how many and they were quite small. So at last. They apparently came back in the night and we saw them again this morning at first light. Together this time with 2 smallish black birds which flew off.

The weather - well what can we say? Dan's comment 'this is not what was written on the tin'. Yesterday the wind was light from the East and so sails changed again this time to the main and the new cruising Shute to try and use what there was. We pottered along at anywhere between 2-5 knots with the wind on the beam - so not going very far very fast. Tad frustrating. However overnight the wind died completely so at one point we were going nowhere at all. It got up again briefly whilst Dan was on watch and he had a good sail for a short period and then it died again completely. So at breakfast this morning we went round in circles and after studying the weather reports and as no wind we are motoring - sea pretty glassy. Good sunrise and all quite pretty. We are trying to motor out of the hole otherwise we could be here for days 'bobbin' around. If we have to motor for more than 24 hours then we will have to divert to Cape Verdes to refuel! Not what we want but see next instalment tomorrow.

This weather is due to a low pressure which has come a long way south - naughty thing and is counteracting the trade winds so they are non existent - we have a big hole and we are in it. The Christmas Rally boats a bit further south and west are also feeling the effects but perhaps only on the edge the other side so making slightly better progress.

So watch this space. Very frustrating but it would be a lot worse if we were cold and in wet weather gear! Or that's what we keep telling ourselves.

It is quite amazing how the days go! I've spent today already trying to find food in deep storage, doing the washing and sorting a few other things. Time has been taken with discussions over what we do about the weather or rather which course and what action we should take. Dan has got the very big cruising Shute out of its bag and sorted it so if we get any wind we can fly that ( minus its snake) and hope that helps us along our way.

We are enjoying listening to Slocum's journey round the world . Interesting to listen to his comments on the unpredictability of the weather. He went backwards at one point! We certainly don't want to do that.

Again thanks to everyone for their messages we do appreciate receiving them.

To all our family and friends worldwide we hope you all have a lovely Christmas.



Sent from my iPad
Jocelyn Fawcett
+447776186842