Newsletter  7:   13 December 2007 

Day:                                                               5

Position:                                                       22:02.930N  27:17.723W 

Approx Miles from San Sebastian:              777 

Approx Miles to go to Road Town:              2041                                                                 

Note:  All times are GMT time, and will be for the whole trip.

            Miles are Nautical Miles, where 1 mile = 1.8 km

Hello Friends, and Supporters,

As you see...A good day yesterday. The going was slow and not on a very favourable course as I continued the path south to 22N. It ended up being virtually a 180 degree south course, but I had to get there!  At 20h30 on the 12th I was 3 miles from 22N and the wind turned more unfavourable so I decided to gybe and start the favourable westerly course heading directly on bearing 279 degrees for Road Town. Well what a pleasure... 90 degree wind angle, just what Solone enjoys and 15 knots of wind. Off we shot surfing at 12-14 knots and just loving it. Quite a few creaks and moans on board though an the autopilot JUST managing to keep things on track... not the stuff for easy sleeping, specially after the earlier 'Sundown party'  I describe below. After about two hours of this exciting stuff, I decided to put a reef in and clam things down a bit. As should know by know, the boat gets much more stable, easy to steer, and speed doesn't drop that significantly!!  I guess there must still be a bit of adrenalin junkie still in me, but sanity is clearly starting to prevail! 

So what about this Sundown Party....?  Well it was a party for one...not even Storm was invited!!  A REAL special on to celebrate capitulation day!  The weather was perfect (for the party not for sailing!) with just a gentle breeze, clear sky, other than for a few high clouds, and a beautiful sunset. Continuing my new feeling of being at 'home' now I decided to enjoy it, put on some music that gets to my soul, make my first cup of coffee, and enjoy some ...yeah you guessed it.... 'jamon y queso' sandwiches on the deck. So with sea all around me, nobody in sight, and the sounds of In a Persian Market, then Twin Peaks playing, I savoured this hour of pure 'luxury' . Its hard to describe, probably hard to know what's special about it....but yeah I am a bit of a weirdo!  This is 'Solo but NOT Alone' stuff , and yes thanks you supporters do all help with that,...THANK YOU!

Just before dark, I had to repeat the previous day's 'Moment of Truth' test, and check that my day's work up the mast had been productive!!  Yippee the light came on, and hey I was back being a proper vessel, recognisable by all at night!  

Oh and the fishing.... Well that is a REALLY nice story...not for catching fish but having company onboard!  As I told you yesterday I threw out the line with the rapala as bait on the  end. Remember now, fishing has never really been my forte, and this Rapala has been with me since Greece and never caught anything! Its like a pet onboard...16 cm of imitation silver fish, 3 large hook sets, and a bright red head!  Why wouldn't a huge fish fall for it?  "00m of line out and I attach the hand real to the aft cleat and hope that in a few hours I'll haul something worthwhile in! Well a few hours later I see the Rapala is bouncing around the surface, some 50 metres of the stern! How could that be possible, when I had 200m of line out!  Ok I was probably going quite a bit faster than the recommended trawling speed of 5 knots.... but lo and behold the Rapala must have thought there was a real chance of being taken in THIS Atlantic ocean space, and decided to twirl its way back to me on board! The line had been twisted and twirled full of dreaded 'nests of line, and as the Rapala continued to spiral around it surprisingly got closer to its objective of getting back to the safety of Solone!  Oh and what a bloody mess of line... I finally got the Rapala back onboard and had to cut the tangled masterpiece of line free and dump it!  No more fishing today! Subsequently found that the swivel had seized and compounded with the fact that I was going too fast caused this embarrassment!  The Rapala has earned the right to stay safe onboard with me now! I have a newer and better one that will go out when conditions allow!

Lots of flying fish around now...large ones and a sign that the trade winds are not far off! Also around are some MUCH bigger fish...maybe a shoal, as I had a ready today on my depth meter of 35.3 metres. It has to be something big to be picked up at the depth!

Continuing my feeling of comfort of being 'out here on Solone', I decided to steer the boat from 3 am to 4 am this morning!  "Gee whizz...for just an hour, we do 4 hr watches when we sail", I hear some of you hardened sailors say.... yes but as a solo sailor, I have to do EVERYTHING, and as such don't have watches and am even allowed to sleep 'on watch'! The point is, I just found it very peaceful steering the boat on another pitch black night in the middle of the Atlantic. Weirdo...yes he definitely is! 

I have now passed through the whole rowing fleet, and no never saw one!  I have been tracking the South Africans, Peter and Bill, and were pleased for them that as of about three days ago they are in the lead. Had a brief chat to them on the Satphone today..... I must say they sounded like they could do with a bit of a pep talk! I think the most difficult thing must be rowing in these long 13 hour pitch black nights!  I do appreciate my decision to sail alone, rather than to row! Its also been good to make me remember not to EVEN THINK about maybe doing that in the future!

Tonight for Sundown, I have decided to prepare my first 'full on REAL meal.... Similar to the traditional, hot meat and veg meal, with a lovely desert, and then tuck into my sack for 8hrs un-interrupted sleep!

Finally the 'Howard Fairbank impatience' is still alive and well.... I have looked at my weather file today and see its still probably a day or two before I really get into the tradewinds.....  I just can't wait, as the wind has died off again, and coming from a 'not exactly optimum position' again, so progress is once again slower than I was expecting! I expect to hit the trade winds proper at around 28 degrees west. More on this tomorrow! 

From my simple life to the busy one you all work in...... I do wonder...but hey its all about getting a balance..... and this is good for me for now....but I'll need a piece of your life in a few weeks!

Howard