Date: 08-12-06     Time: 12:00 UTC      Position: 17:42.40N  042:53.60W   Name: Atlantic

Distance from start: 1638           Distance to finish: 1063    Effective avg. speed last 24h: 6.38 kn (153 nm)   

Vi har hatt enda et bra døgn her ute på havet. Høydepunktet var utvilsomt da det dukket opp 5-6 hvaler ca 80m fra båten. Antageligvis vågehvaler, fikk vi et flott skue i det vi seilte forbi dem. De virket helt uinteressert i oss og endret verken fart, kurs, eller atferd. Vi har ikke hatt noen squalls og heller ikke sett andre båter. Det andre høydepunktet var egg og bacon smørbrød til lunsj. Sol har vi hatt rikelig av, og jeg så et langt og sterkt stjerneskudd på min nattevakt og det samme gjorde Rønnaug. Vinden har vært noe mer variable og vi har opplevd alt fra 18 til 32 knops styrke. 18 er for lite med vår begrensning på seilføringen etter at spinnaker-bommen brakk, mens 32 krever at man ruller inn halvparten av forseilet. Fremdriften har også vært bra - selv om vi ikke kan seile direkte kurs mot mål fordi da ville vinden være rett bak oss og seilet vil blafre og slå.

 

Rullingen vil ingen ende ta, og selv om vi burde bli vant til det er det fortsatt stor irritasjonsmoment når man skal gjennomføre en enkel oppgave og det tar en evighet fordi ingenting står stille. Jeg tror at rullingen er den største grunnen til at vi gleder oss til å komme i havn, fordi ellers har vi det som plommen i egget her ute.

 

Vi bestemte oss for å ta en "light" avriming av kjøleskapet før all frossenmaten var oppspist, og dette gikk bra slik at kjøleskapet fungerer mye bedre nå og at det går an å lukke døren til frysedelen. Det er utrolig hvor fort det rimer ned rundt fordamperplaten her der lufttemperaturen ute er høy og luftfuktigheten tilsvarende. Da er det mye vann som skal kondenseres ut på kalde flater.

 

 

We have had another good 24 hours out at sea. The pinnacle of the day was sighting a small pod of 5-6 whales yesterday. Most likely Minke whales, they cruised past us in the opposite direction about 80m from us. The didn't seen at all bothered by us and did not change their course, speed or behaviour as we sailed past. We have not had any squalls or seen other boats either. Another good part of the day was the bacon and egg butties we had for lunch - good food really makes a good day out at sea. We have had plenty of sun and I saw a very long and bright shooting star on my night watch. The wind has been a little more variable than previous days, with a period of 32 knots during the night (too much wind, half of the genoa has to be rolled away) and an hour or so of 18 knots at sunrise - too little wind with our limited sail carrying capacity. We have however made good progress, though not quite in the exact direction of St. Lucia as this would mean having the wind dead behind us, which is neither a practical nor safe angle to sail.

 

The rolling of the boat in the big swells is relentless and even though we should be used to it, it is still a great irritation when trying to perform some trivial task which takes much longer when there are no surfaces which are not in continuous motion. I think that the rolling is the major reason we are looking forward to getting into harbour - otherwise we are having a great time out here on our own.

 

As mentioned yesterday, the de-frosting of the fridge had become a concern and we packed in all the remaining frozen meat in old newspapers, then had a "light" version of a de-frosting. We got the worst of the ice off the evaporator element and can once again close the door to the freezer box. This will keep us going until the last of the meat has been eaten. Talking of dinner, Lousie and Mike made a delicious sweet and sour pork yesterday - a good hot meal is such an important part of the sailing day and great moral-booster.