Saturday, 16th December 2006. Rock around the clock.

Fleck
Sat 16 Dec 2006 13:25
Noon Position; 15,32 N, 53,12 W.
24 hour distance made good: 139 n miles
Distance to go: 459 n miles
ETA: Late evening of 19th Dec or early hours of 20th Dec.
 
A difficult day yesterday, with Geoff rather out of sorts, and, if you will allow the phrase, constant showers. We were entertained by a small school of dolphins yesterday afternoon, but of course we are quite blase about this sort of event now! Down below with the hatches closed was at least dry, but very hot. Never mind, we were making good progress all of that time, and this morning the swell has evened out, so that although the waves are much steeper, they do all seem to come from the same direction, which is less upseting for the crew. Apart from shortening sail last night we have made no rig changes since noon yesterday. The wind this morning is up to Force seven which is quite a blow if you are sailing into it, but sort of comfortable downwind, our direction!
 
Obviously our ETA becomes more certain the closer we get. I am afraid that Conny and Hannah will arrive on the Island after us (we were looking forward to someone cheering us in!), but at least we shall all be there for the final Party on the 21st, if we can get them tickets, and Geoff should be on his plane the day after. My main concern is to avoid a night time arrival in a strange harbour without the navigational lights that we have in Europe.
 
I'm pleased that the Australian crews found another yacht a bit closer to give them some fuel and water, this would have been a tricky undertaking for us, and would have taken a lot of time out of our schedule
 
Keep on rocking
 
Richard and Geoff