Position: 15:58:70N 38:22:70W

Transat Day 13

Hurrah!  We are officially past the halfway point!  Depending on how you measure it (distance traveled vs actual distance etc) we passed it at some point in the early afternoon yesterday.  For those that have done a transat themselves, they will recognize that this is quite surprisingly long time to reach halfway.  We had hoped to get to halfway in about 10-11 days, so 12 days is quite a lot.  Still too early to predict an ETA but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes us 24 days or more – a very long trip.  I will be interested to hear what the “official” view of this years ARC conditions is, but for us it has been surprisingly light winds.  Apart from our squall the other night we have rarely had more than 15kts of wind so far. 

So given the heavy displacement and under-canvassed rig of Nutmeg, I am quite pleased with how we are doing.  I’ve got a little spreadsheet which shows the daily winners/losers vs Nutmeg, and it shows that while we are slowly moving towards the back of the pack (as expected given relative size etc), there are still plenty of bigger boats around or behind us, and in the little group of yachts that give their position on the radio net, we gained on 9 and lost to 8 in the 24hrs to noon today.

To celebrate our halfway point, the skipper cooked a mean curry, and we polished off a bottle of chilled Veuve together with a big pile of poppodums in the cockpit.  Who says ocean sailing has got to be full of hardships? 

The night was lovely last night – a clear sky for the first time in I don’t know how long, 10kts of breeze from behind, and a flattish sea.  Steering was lovely – Nutmeg pretty-much steering herself under the stars, and we split our watch so the other person got some extra sleep, so we’re all feeling refreshed this morning.

Question – what is green one day, yellow the next, and black the day after? 

Answer – all of Nutmeg’s 50 or so bananas, which all ripened on the same day – today!  So we’ve started the day with banana pancakes, and the talk in the cockpit is of Banoffee pie.  Yum… 

Hope all’s well

Ollie x