St Lucia here we come

Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Mon 10 Dec 2007 23:49
17:19.1N 050:01.2W

Grapto crew calling. There are yachts arriving in St Lucia every day now
including our next door neighbour from Las Palmas, Minnie the Moocher, who
arrived today at 13.20. My neighbours from Topsham in Aqualuna are due to
arrive within the next 24 hours. If anything all the talk of landfall makes
you appreciate every moment of the day more. It's great to lie down in the
cockpit on watch and look up at the stars, obviously with one eye looking
out to sea.

It has been mentioned before but to date we have been blessed with fantastic
winds, a classic crossing really, poled out genoa and then away she goes,
surfing down the waves. Obviously the 48kt gusts were not on our wish list
but hey. Grapto has behaved beautifully and is clearly enjoying her release
from the confines of Swanwick. We thought we may have a few problems brewing
today but so far nothing to worry about.

No luck fishing today so carpaccio of tuna must wait until tomorrow. Skip's
now talking 'bout bigger and better tackle for the Caribbean Sea so we can
build on our success to date. Plenty of tuna there I hear.

I'm not trying to elicit sympathy as we do know what the weather is like in
the UK but it's very hot and sticky now. Yep, just as I thought, no
sympathy.

Looking forward to making those home calls now. The bets on board for
arrival are as follows: Ian Friday pm, Liz Saturday am, me Saturday pm and
skip's gone for the broad brush approach of anytime after Saturday. We are
now taking our night watches as an opportunity to swing things in our
favour.

Lori, out.