Tuesday, 31 January 2012 

BLOG - DAY 7

Hello families and chums, this is Alfie. By kind permission of the command, who thinks today has been quiet, I get to talk to you.

Today has been quiet. Please don’t expect any high brow stuff but you can expect some spilling and grimmer errars.

Last night and earlier today the ride has been quite uncomfortable due to the conflicting swells Nige talked about. Having thought and talked about it we decided to raise the mainsail on one reef and come right to about 250degrees ish to reduce the effect and bring us closer to the track. The evolution went well, even nige said so, and we now find ourselves on course and somewhat more comfy. By this time tomorrow we should be making our final turn west and into the ocean proper. Currently we are making approx 5.3 knots over the ground (actually the sea, but it’s a technical thing). We have a self steering thingy on Pinball, that works like a wind vane. It is a really fantastic bit of kit and last night I think I finally got my head around operating it. Weather has been fine and sunny today which reflects our mood.

We are well into our daily routines now and working 3 hour watches through the night. As and when during the day we catch up, but it is amazing how our old bodies are adapting and coping.

Although we seem to be making sound progress we have to allow for contingencies and are using salt water for cooking and washing up. I was surprised how little difference it makes to taste etc, but the water saving is considerable. (And there is no shower either)! There are no shops, lay bys or garages on this route. Things like that make it one of the challenges, I for one have no doubt that we will cope with whatever comes our way, including Barbados, Antigua, St Lucia etc.

We are eating very well and still have some fresh fruit and veg. Nige got a new jar of coffee out today and it has gone AWOL already. Fairly typical, but the good thing is that we know it’s onboard and it will turn up next week.

Another bird was spotted today and thankfully Nige saw it as well, now all I have to do is convince him I really did see a moth!

Unbeknown to me I have just discovered Nige has set the mizzen (the sail at the back), should give us another 0.25 knot he says.

We now sail off into the sunset, ‘should be romantic’ says Nige, ‘you’re not holding hands with me’ says I.

Position at 2000, (8pm) N 19 46.007 W22 52.95 Cse 260 Speed 5.3-5.5 Knots

Or 200 nautical miles north of Cape Verde.