10 Dec - More canvass fast!

Moulin Rouge
Philip Barltrop
Fri 10 Dec 2010 18:41
Following an urgent communication via carrier pigeon from Monroe, Skipper Philip commanded that more sails be rasied or we will be stranded and our arrival at St Lucia was guaranteed to be delayed.  The urgent communique recommended continuous 24 hour flying of spinnaker as well as any other availbale piece of sail to muster speed and distance before the wind is due to drop on Tuesday next week.
 
Following this communication Skipper stepped into immediate action when he saw the log and GPS reading boat speeds of under 6 knots. c'mon you Scury sea dogs or it will be the cat fer ye...........  A frenzy ensued with spinnaker on deck along with some slight disarray which then developed into a respectable 7.5 knots sailing wing and wing with full main and a slightly reefed head sail for balance.  Pace really is of the essence or we may have to motor our way to the finish as the winds are due to die on tuesday next week.
 
Reporting on from Dinner last night, the Curry served by Messrs Barltrop and Barltop was very well received by the crew, Colin had the tamed down version of rice and chicken - getting in the Carribean mood already... Ben cooked two batches of bread yesterday, the comment on the first batch (not wishing to offend anyone, but he phrase is: Aye-yay-aye - Bread-shmead!!!  Barely risen but kept us quiet.....  The second batch was well coloured, but again sat a little heavy - practice isneeded here, i think part baked is in order for the next few days.
 
Finally, meetings continue to run into the late hours about what to do with regards to the time zone issues.......  If a decision is not made soon, we will follow the sense of the skipper and just have four extra hours of Shore leave in St Lucia - the saga continues.........
 
A waxing gibbus moon - what is it? BS or fact????...... we need your help and access to google and wikipedia! Colin guarantees that it is real, we are yet to be convinced............

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