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
