15:06.67N 60:05.71W
Lbb
Tue 7 Dec 2010 16:05
We're not giving birth out here, but some of it has felt like a huge pain in the arse!-)
In the last 24 hours, I've had just under 2 hours sleep, and this is supposed to be cruising!
The last of our woes to date was our starboard spinnaker guy blew in the night, causing all sorts of problems as the spinnaker and all its remaining lines, tried to emulate the cats cradle! When it was quite finished we were left with something that looked similar to a creeping ivy up the rigging! This obviously slowed us down (and got me out of bed.... AGAIN!) for 2 hours this morning while the guys untangled, re- packed, cut new guys and swapped with longer sheets before finally getting the darn thing back in the air!
Once in the air, we made good time again for around 4 hours but then then wind dropped, leaving us swinging and wallowing in the 3m swell, praying that all our hard work wasn't in vain as the rest of the fleet start to chomp massive bites out of our relative position. This is all currently speculation, but we are so close you can smell the rum and yet we are floundering not making any ground to speak of. But still to have come this far without the engine only to put it on now would seem like a daft thing to do....but its so tempting. We now have enough fuel to power us along at 10 knots for the rest of the way on a direct bearing to St Lucia, while we all sun ourselves, drink beer, eat food and watch for dolphins and whales! Sounds nice eh?!? You'll be pleased to hear, that won't be happening, but still, its a nice thought to keep at the back of your mind in the dull moments.
Speaking of whales, whilst traveling at 12 knots earlier, one of these superior intelligence hyper beings bobbed his noggin' up about 30m of the starboard bow. He then continued to swim right into our path before cacking himself and swimming directly infront of us as fast as he could so we didn't stab our anchor into his gasping blow hole.... I mean we could have slowed down or altered course, but we're in a race here don't you know. There is always going to be some collateral damage, and if you ask me, he must have gone to whale "special school" because he didn't seem that bright. Survival of the fittest and all that! Bless him though, we scared the living b'jesus out of him. You should have seen his wide eyes...or perhaps thats how he always looks.
Approaching the end of our adventure I just want to take the time to introduce you to our crew.
Watch 1. Adam Teal & Mark Booth
AKA Knob Watch (Don't ask because I don't know why. They named themselves this and it stuck. What they get up to in their cabin is none of my business!)
AKA Bravado To Zero (I came up with that one;-)
Watch 2. Jez Williman & Bruce Smart
AKA The A Team (Obviously again, they picked this one and I don't think it bares reference to the machine gun toting mercenaries!)
AKA Movie Night Club - 'The first rule about Movie Night Club is don't talk about Movie Night Club' (They have managed to watch a whole movie every night whilst "on watch"... Good effort!)
Watch 3. Andy Auld & Roberto Magnus Till
AKA The B Team (I don't think they picked their own name, in fact I'm pretty sure there was some pecking order as the A Team forced it upon them.)
AKA Mr Magoo/ Captain Slow & Captain Scarlett (Again, they didn't pick these, but old 'berto does bare a striking resemblance to Captain Scarlett!)
Watch 4. Me & Me James Mitchell
AKA.... erm They call me Capitan or Skipper mostly......very respectful and nice of them....well, to my face. I'm sure it's something horrendous so I'll just leave a dotted line below that they can fill in later!
AKA ___________________________
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the above and their alter egos. We really took on a zero to hero challenge and from no previous sailing history, nobody died, got mamed or anything else nasty. In fact, they can all walk away from here with their heads held high, secure in the knowledge that they sailed the atlantic and sailed it well. They all did their own watches and I've been really impressed at the effort put in and the resultant petit sailors!
Also thanks to everyone who has followed this blog. You've given me someone to talk to every day, given me a semblance of sanity and a purpose to keep a log of the trip. We will be adding pictures to the trip and producing a photographic blog book for the crew, so if anyone wants to see it, i'll try to get it online or just ask the crew that you know to have a look next time your round at their place!
I may do a brief blog tomorrow depending on time of arrival but until then.....
Love to all from all aboard
Captain & Crew Of Lady Boubou
PS. I'm sooooo t-i-r-e-d!!!! Are we there yet?
xx