200 miles to go

Juniper
John and Sally
Mon 7 Dec 2009 12:03
15:19.420N 57:30.203W
 
Well lots to challenge us as we make our final approach to St Lucia. Yesterday was a good day with clear skies and mod winds which meant we are able to keep up the pace.Trying to get in during daylight hours on tuesday which looks possible as I write this.
 
Where it has been getting exctiting is at night. During the early evening the clouds get significant height as the rise of air is at its maximum. They then form squalls which can bring torrential rain and 35kts of wind, up from 18. Jonathan had absolutely torrential rain in his stint, but with little in the way of gusts. Others had different combinations. Our system gives David and Guy either Jonathan or myself as "on call." Last night in the middle of a squall the autoplilot decided to take a siesta and switch off so I ended up sprinting to the cockpit in only my M+S finest ( for our International readers use you imagination )and getting the boat back under control with Guy as we set off in the wrong direction in torrential rain. Glad no one had the time or inclination to take  a photo.
 
Back under control this morning but we will all be glad to get in and hope tonight we get more than a few hours sleep as we did last night.
 
Boats are now beginning to arrive in St Lucia but we haven't seen another competitor for 10 days. BIG ocean! Saw a cargo ship last night which was a change.
 
Really encouraging for us is that there are a lot of bigger boats behind us!!
 
Computer says ........2300 tuesday but who knows. Times are GMT so -4 for local time.
 
John, Jonathan, Guy, David