Past half way

Lochmarin
Thu 7 Feb 2013 13:24
14:50.23N 44:55.48N

Arthur, the frigate bird, is still with us, I get the feeling he's heading for the white beaches and turquoise water too. We managed to keep him away from our fishing lures but although we had three bites, we had no catches yesterday. The flying fish managed to extract himself from the hook, then we had two take the lures but managed to jump off the hooks before we could get them in and the third, a real biggy, snapped the line and swam off with the lures whilst we were hauling him in. We're going to swap to a thicker line today, and hopefully have nothing quite so big take the bait else I'll have to start opening cans!

When we passed the half way point we celebrated by opening a gift Emma and Stuart from Amorosa had given us, with strict instructions that we weren't to touch it 'till half way. Inside was a beautifully drawn card depicting our route and a delicious almond and fruit cake, along with party poppers! We were really touched by their generosity and the effort it must have taken them - they don't have an oven so it must have been baked in a pan on the stove top. Thank you both!

Our new sail combination of lightweight genoa and poled out jib went really well, giving us an average of about 7.5 kts, however, just before day break the block at the base of the inner forestay broke, so the unsupported genoa ripped, unfortunately along the whole length, before we could tumble from our bunks and get on deck to drop it. So we're back to the second jib on twin poles and running almost as well.

Still loving it!

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