33 00N 46 57W
Osprey
John Bowering
Sat 30 May 2009 22:11
Red Sea than the Atlantic and is mirror flat. On the plus side the weather
is glorious with Chrystal clear blue sky but of course, hot. Sleeping
sickness has taken hold of us on board and we have all been catching up on
some sleep - in between Kuki feeding us with Pancakes and maple syrup for
breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and chicken pie for dinner. The idea of loosing
weight on this trip has receded into the distant past! As usual we are
running the engine at economical revolutions and trying to stretch our
remaining 100 gallons of diesel as far as possible. We are still in contact
with Reverie and Callisto who are about 200 miles behind us and to our east.
The signs of frustration with the strange weather pattern is really starting
to come through in the conversations on the HF radio. Mike on Reverie has
his situation compounded by having the engine bay open all the time because
of his broken engine mount and jury rig. He says the noise in the cabin is
appalling but they have no option other than to motor slowly on until the
wind returns.
"Notes from a Small Boat BeCalmed" - well the resurgence of wind was too good to be true, having flown the spinnaker all of yesterday the wind died with the sunset and we have been motor sailing/motoring ever since except for one hour this morning.
The sea is unbelievable, so calm and flat there is hardly a ripple with the only real movement being caused by Osprey's movement. It is really very surreal, a sight that cannot accurately be described and cannot be captured on camera.
On the positive side we are now under 1000 miles from Horta, in the Azores,so the slow count down of miles has begun and the distance is starting to look a little smaller.
Budda has decided that he has not been meditating enough the past few days, and so retired to the Aft Cabin mid morning, spending the majority of the day flat on his back with only the occasional foray into the pilothouse and the cockpit.
The crew whilst frustrated by the weather again, are now settling in for their third week at sea and bracing themselves for the end of the biscuits, the hot chocolate having been finished last night and the crisps days ago.
No funny incidents today, the hot breezeless weather having put everyone into a slow funk - so we are retiring to the Terrace to eat our pies as the sun goes down, before settling in for another night of watches.