Day 9/10
Gaviota
Sun 16 Jan 2011 13:45
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16:48.900N 54:10.266W
Distance so far 1797nm
Now just changed to Antigua
time! And with around 500nm to go we're still making
fantastic progress. Wind has dropped though and the speed during the last 2 days
has been around 7 knots average, but we'd have settled for that all the way
across before we set sail. It is hot again and even Syd is taking cover from the
midday sun! Wind has shifted slightly to the port side, meaning we are now
slightly south of track and will have to switch to the opposite tack unless we
want to end up in the south Carribbean. Switching tack with Syds sail system has
become a 30+min challenge with having to shift the spinnaker boom onto the port
side, a bit of a drawn out job, but without the sails set up as they are we'd
still only be half way across. Squalls have now become a daily occurence,
and yesterday it was my turn to take a good shower while steering the boat round
in circles.
If we make an average speed of around 7knots we'll be getting
to Antigua at 0100 on Wednesday morning, which is a bit of an issue as no engine
+ no light = imminent disaster. Mr Bodge seems to think that the engine will
work for enough time to get us there, even though it's leaking some kind of
acidic substance all over the inside of the engine bay.
Since this sailing lark is turning out to be a doddle our
primary task now is to sit in the sunshine and spot various sea creatures. To be
honest since a 'dolphin' about 5 days ago we've seen nothing but a couple of
tropic birds and dead flying fish that have found their way onto the deck.
However, Lisas keen eye managed to spot a bottle of Tiger, shortly followed by a
naan bread! I think we just missed the Indian takeaway boat. Not much else to report from the last 48 hours. The main news is that a
parcel arrived on saturday morning and it looked like Lisas sea legs had finally
arrived! She successfully overcame the challenges of the galley and cooked a
superb lasagne, the reminants of which we'll be eating tonight.
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