Position: 14:09:00N 59:11:30W

Transat Day 22

Wow – we are nearly there – I can almost taste the rum…

We’ve had a cracking 24hrs, sailing-wise – great winds from the NE at 20kts, so we’ve been broad-reaching or running at 6-7kts all night.  Lovely.  Covered 147M over the ground, and have 102M left.  ETA somewhere between midnight and 4am tonight, local time (4-8am UTC).

We had a close encounter in the night – I looked over to our starboard side and to my surprise there was a port nav light about 200m away!  They closed on us, at about the same time as a squall overtook us both, so we had a couple of minutes of excitement whilst the other boat altered course.  I shone the steamer-scarer torch on them and could see that it was a Hallberg Rassy 40, called “Sophie”.  They are still in sight, about a mile ahead.  So they are in our targets to beat over the line in Rodney Bay!

With the thought that we were on our last few days, the crew has been sorting through the food stocks and starting to clean the boat of the disgusting detritus of 3 ½ weeks of living aboard.  It is amazing how much hair accumulates in the cockpit – and it’s certainly not mine!!  On the food front, we are in no danger of starving, indeed I think we have enough supplies to last us well into the New Year.

I feel guilty about something, which has been nagging at me for several days.  It is this:  we are sailing past Barbados as we speak, and in one of the lockers there is an unopened bottle of Mount Gay rum.  This feels like the worst “coals to Newcastle” crime.  It was suggested to me (by a recent Olympic aspirant no less) that I should be pouring it on my cornflakes each morning – “the breakfast of champions”!  I am sure that many of my friends can guess who made this comment, it made me chuckle on my night watch!

I just want to take the opportunity, before all the temptations of the land overcome me, to say a big Thankyou to everyone who has sent messages of support and encouragement over the last 3½ weeks – you have made a big difference and we all really appreciate it.  For me, this has been one of the toughest psychological challenges I’ve ever undertaken – being alone, away from friends and family for 4 weeks, with the responsibilities of both ownership and captaincy of an old yacht with an unfamiliar crew.  Thankyou especially to those of my family whom I’ve leaned on a little bit harder than normal in the last few weeks – Dad, Mum and Sarah in particular.  I’m very lucky.

Hope all’s well

Ollie x