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13:12 15:59.338N
52:23.526W
Hi folks, day
nineteen at sea and Kevin the crew back at the caribbean keyboard.
Everythings going
well still ( touch wood ). THe weathers great - not much rain, 29.1 degree's as
I write and the sun is HOT HOT HOT ! The sea's are mostly huge great rollers
today but from two different directions at the same time so we're getting
bounced around like crazy - just for a change ! Less than 600 miles to go -
maybe 3 and a half days. Half a boat full of tinned food left, enough water for
three times the distance - we even have some fresh fruit and veg left, amazing
how long they last when not from a supermarket ! Unfortnately Chris has
completely run out of chocolate now - we are keeping a close watch on him for
withdrawal symptoms and have tranquilisers ready if necessary ! So, morales
high, I think arriving will be appreciatd by us all - clean clothes and a shower
- how much would we pay for those right now I wonder ? A proper nights sleep and
a boat not continually rolling through ninety degree's - not long now I remind
myself - again !
I wanted to tell you about our fourth crew member
- you didn't know about her did you ? She's the hardest working out of all of us
and sits at the back of ther boat all day long. Chris picked her up in England
and she's been onboard ever since. I often find myself staring at her in
admiration, she never complains and the harder the going gets, the harder she
works. Never gets sea sick or tired and I have to admit she's beautifully put
together - I'm talking of course about our wind activated self steering system -
what did you think I was talking about ? !! She's bolted to the stern of
the boat with a small rudder in the water, a complex mechanism in a die cast
open casing half way up, then at the top is a lightweight feathering blade. You
set it up to steer so many degree's off the wind direction, then as the boat
wanders away from that the blade pushes over with the new wind direction -
which turns the rudder and you're back on course again - an amazing piece of
engineering, it would be a much harder journey without it.
What else ? the fishing - we caught three fish
the other morning but the boats going so fast now, on big waves that its very
hard to get them back to the boat. The first one got off halfway back, the
second was too big to pull in by hand and got off the hook in the effort and the
third came free taking the hook with him ! better luck today - maybe
!!!
Thats about it for now folks nearly at the 500
mile mark - speak again in three days.
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