"Are we nearly there yet , Dad?"

gale-at-sea
Humphrey Gale
Wed 28 Nov 2012 17:03
Lat 15.43N Long 48.5W 28th November

Happy birthday Nicola! HIghlight of the day was speaking to Nicola this morning over the satellite phone to wish her a happy birthday from the middle of the Atlantic ocean with a little catch up on the day she has planned ahead and Joan's funeral yesterday. It all went very well and both Nicola and Jonathan were able to attend the funeral.

How many of you with children have set off on a long journey, perhaps on holiday, and the cry from the back seat is "Are we nearly there yet?". Well, I feel like the kids, it has been a long while into the journey, a 8 full days at sea, much longer than I have ever spent continuously on passage on a sailing yacht, and I am starting to look forward arriving. Each day is a regular routine of watches, meals, a bit of washing, a bit of sail adjustment, some sleep, the occasional mini crisis. Early inthe passage, the water maker was not working properly, now fixed, then loading the electronic charts for Caribean and Central America did not work, so we do not have detailed electronic charts going into Antigua. We have the paper charts and GPS so it is back to an earlier technology which works very well as we approach our destination. We are making 165 miles per day, so at this pace only another 4 + days to go. Fishing has stopped because I did not manage to get wire leaders for the fishing kit so the fish have bitten off the lures and the line 3 times so it was time to stop and wait till I get the proper kit in Antigua