Little Pea's ARC Blogoramma 5 - The sun has got his hat on

Littlepea
Mon 3 Dec 2012 20:28
22:40.4N 033:39.4W
 
Day 6, Sunday.  The sunrises are getting later for us as we head further West.  Daybreak continues to be my favourite time of the day and today was probably the more beautiful so far.  The rising of the new sun in this watery desert also brought our nicest weather day so far; the sky was clear, the sun beat down on us and the whole mood of the crew improved.  The shirts came off, the factor 30 was liberally applied.
 
Today we decided to ease off a little on our fairly strict boat routine.  Up until now, we have been hand steering as we don't have the power reserves to run autopilot.  However, today we decided to switch on Beryl (our autopilot) for a few hours, relax a little in the sun and give our salt cracked and sore hands some respite.  So, highlights of the day were:
 
Jags and Minky doing the "Dad dance" to the sound of Tom Jones' Sexbomb in the cockpit. Our teenage daughters would be proud .... 
 
No kit failiure. Inspite of Mike's best efforts, we have managed a full 24hrs without breaking anything.
 
Ben's cooking: it has become quite an event on board. Today for lunch he spent nearly 3 hours cooking the most exquisite omelette but his best was yet to come. For dinner he made burgers and decided to spice things up with a hand made salsa. After some painstaking preparation Ben was making the finishing touches as Mike accelerated Pea to her daily top speed sending her rolling at the bottom of a wave which resulted in the salsa going all over the floor and Ben descending into a sense of humour failure. However, it was the clean up that proved somewhat difficult. With the floor now covered in olive oil and Pea rolling around in the swell it was reminiscent of that famous scene from Bambi!
 
With the clean up complete and Ben's mood restored Pea and her crew continued on their way into yet another night of great sailing.
 
Picture in advent calendar = a bear with a bow - we think
Maximum Boat speed = 12.8kts
Number of Reefs = 2
Maximum Gust = 28 Knots
Number of Dolphins = 0
Number of Whales = 0
Amount of Rain = Large amount, entirely concentrated into Jag's watch from 0200-0400 hrs.  Much huffing and puffing...
 
Jags, Ben, Minkey and Mike