Position
at noon GMT
on 1 December 2006 was
19.13.69N, 25.50.50W. 173.9 nautical miles sailed in last 24 hours. 2037
nautical miles to go to St
Lucia.
Another
day of 15 knot north-easterlies, running on starboard with the spinnaker at
speeds between 7 and 10 knots. Clear blue skies and, now, relatively calm seas.
The sun was so intense that we reluctantly erected the spray hood over the
cockpit for some shade.
The boat
is now into a familiar routine, with the high spots being dinner and news of our
fleet position, in that order. All systems continue to perform well and the
crew are in high spirits, particularly since the email problems appear to have
been solved and they are now in daily contact with their
families
Now that
we are as far south as we are comfortable with we just need more speed. We are
seriously considering an attempt to repair the shredded, but larger, 'all
purpose' kite. This would give us more speed, and enable us to sail further
downwind when the inevitable happens and the trades veer from
north-easterly to easterly.
Yesterday
afternoon Pete Lanoe and Ron were on watch, when Pete remarked that a dolphin
was swimming alongside the yacht, close to the hull. As Ron leant over the guard
rail for a better look, a flying fish sprung out of the sea and hit him full
force in the chest, disintegrating and leaving him stinking of fish entrails. He
never even saw the dolphin; if it existed in the first place.
Pete Howe
excelled himself with the evening meal. Fried sausages, Creamy mashed potatoes,
Baked Beans and Real Onion Sauce. He'd cooked enough for 10 so we each had 2
servings. Bottle of wine, coffee and after dinner mints as we watched the sun
set over the bow of the yacht.
Another
exhilirating nights sail in shorts, t-shirts, tethered life jackets and our man
overboard wrist bands. This is the weather we had always anticipated, but
somehow doubted during the first 3 days. Maximum speed achieved was 10 knots. We
had listened in to the fleets noon position reporting to the net on short
wave, and had noted that they were experiencing lighter winds to the north of
us. Long may this continue.
This
morning we put in a call from Uncle Tom to Ground Control. We were delighted to
hear from Aden that we had the furthest noon to noon run in our class for the
previous day. Today's reports will be very interesting. At 08.00 we sighted a
yacht to the north-west at about 5 - 6 miles. Our first sighting for 2
days.
The
spinnaker was dropped briefly to check the condition of the halyard. It was very
shiny at the mast head but no sign of chaffing. We re-hoisted it to within 6
inches of the sheave as we left the Cape Verde islands behind, passing 130 miles
to the north.
