NEWS FROM GWYLAN ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
Gwylan
Charles Manby
Sat 5 Dec 2009 22:30
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Dear all,
We have had a quiet day reeling the last few
hundred miles to St Lucia. The weather seems more stable now and we have
steady moderate winds which make for lazy hours reading books and generally
catching up on things, while the Good Yacht Gwylan does her stuff.
On Friday the wind was light in the afternoon so
Our Glorious Leader (aka. Charles the Skipper) stopped the boat and instructed
the crew to have a very pleasant swim mid Atlantic. Even in light
winds she was still making 2 knots with some assistance from the current so for
our nervous readers please be assured that two people stayed on
board at all times. The big yacht which has been following us for two days
now must have had a shock as we droppped the fine red Parasailer, apparently
stopped and then then set off again for no obvious reason.
Saturday was very similar so a pleasant lazy
day. We had no success with the fishing but
the beautiful tuna that Charles caught should last a few more days. Nicky
and Lara set up a beauty salon on the rear deck offering massage and exfoliation
services to all comers. This was quite a surprise to the rest of the crew,
but Lucky the Bear seemed to take the whole thing in his stride. He must
have a pampered life style.
James is still making progress with the astro
navigation and regularly getting sun shots to within a few miles of our real
position. His night work needs more attention but learning which stars he
is actually shooting is likely to help.
The boat is going well apart and Tom has little to
fix. Charles ageing lap top has however given up so we have to set up
another computer to talk to the world.
Also for the part of the crew that considers this
to be a race rather than a rally we have now learnt that ;
* Satori : have basically given up and will
now motor to the finish. This means that they will lose their bet with us
and have to buy the entire Gwylan crew a spectacular dinner in St Lucia.
Having lost their spinaker after a few days sailing downwind with just a jib
must be a real struggle,
* Also we have now learnt that one of the other
Oyster 56's. A Lady, pulled 50 miles ahead largely not because of
an inspirational weather routing decision, but they used their
motor for 14 hours ! This meant that they simply motored out of the
dreaded wind hole. This means that when times are corrected we may
actually beat them.
This news inspired about ten minutes of
enthusiastic sail trimming, before reality returned, the autopilot went back on
the books came out.
We now have less than 350 miles to run so should be
in first thing on Tuesday morning. Ship's time has been moved back another
hour so we are now 3 hours behind the UK and will have to lose another hour to
get to St Lucia time.
All the best to all our readers.
The Crew of the Good Yacht Gwylan
14.58 N 055.09 W
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