The Sun'll Come Out Tomarrow..
Juno
Fri 12 Dec 2014 14:30
| 14:24.88N 058:40.3W Day Nineteen at Sea - 12/12/14 Looks like we are going to get thrown into the past leg of the journey. As I write we are trundling at 9.6kts with 30kts of in-betweeny-squall behind us with 129nm to run. Getting a little demob happy judging from the jokes. Being followed by a boat called Wiki and inevitably the question was asked "was she taking on water". 1/4 of Barry the Barracuda was consumed last night, as we already said, universally judged the repas de sejour. Unfortunately the rest of the fish was consigned to the deep because of Skip's overactive olfactory gland and the odour from the fridge. Ce soir - meatballs. The mood meeting saw Shrimpy describe the "brace-brace" position which enabled him to sleep well in the smallest bunk in the smallest room in the biggest seas - those experienced last night. Props included a blow-up pillow, teeshirt, bulkhead, two real pillows and flexible knee work. One lies like road-kill but sleeps OK. The night saw more squall hunting and a few major blows/rain showers. We are smiling, this gets the job done. An uninvited guest at breakfast this morning (spicy sausage, scrambled eggs and beans) was a squall with 45kt winds. Shrimpy had the challenge of his short sailing career to keep the boat on its very even keel whilst the storm raged around him. Homan was effusive with his copious advice, some of which was contradictory. Trying, indeed, it must be to be at the bottom end of a long marine pecking order. New journey records were once again broken despite the best endeavours of Skip to ensure adherence to Health & Safety rules. We just had a go-slow when he asked (asked?) us to reef a little in a 10 knot burst. He can be quite a tetchy fellow at times like these. Nav-man decided, somewhat unilaterally, to clean the decks in between storms to take advantage of the fresh water on the decks and wash away the accumulated salt of the past one thousand miles. Engineering, being a bit slow as a group, were still trying to work out his logic. Surely there will be a hose in Rodney Bay...We watched whilst we thought it through. Lots of talk about that first "Ice Cold In Alex" etc. It must be the same on the other four boats in company with us (we cannot see them visually but on AIS). Aside from the talk, lots of thoughts of home and YOU, dear Readers. We will see the coast of St Lucia later this evening and will be heading for the St Lucia-Martinique Channel to the north of the island. Skip, enthused by finding both Venus and Jupiter last night, has a star-gazing mood meeting planned for eleven o'clock tonight. Truancy is tough to engineer. If you're still awake, walk out of the house and look at the Heavens. Think on us then. |