"Notes from a Small Boat in Sight of Land!" - morale has been rampanent for
the past 24 hrs, as at 1800 hrs last night Charles worked out that if we
could maintain an average speed of 6 knots we could be in Horta by 2000 hrs
today.
Well, wonders will never cease and for the first time since the first two
days out of Antigua we have sailed for the whole period. What a way to
finish this leg, we flew Big Blue all day yesterday and in too the night -
this made for some hairy moments. The most interesting being at 0300 hrs,
the wind veered and the chute was across our bow pretty damn quick. So
Charles hollered for John, and between the two of them they quickly tacked
putting "Big Blue" on the starboard side. The wind continued to veer,
giving an interesting last hour to Charles's watch with speeds reaching 8.6
knots. Come 0400 hrs, the watch changed and with the wind now being on the
beam we dowsed "Big Blue" and in its place unfurled the Genoa & the Main -
we were still making an average of 7 knots. This continued till mid
morning, by which time the wind had dropped so to maintain our speed we
decided to deploy the "Iron Sail", and so we have slowly watched the miles
to go disappear.
As I write this the Iha do Faial is off our port side, as we run parallel
down to the south eastern tip and the marina at Horta - we have 5.5 nm to go
before we head around the headline for the final few miles in to the
sheltered waters.
The most unusual effect has been produced on one member of the crew - Crazy
Kuki. Gone is the seasickness patch, and she has largely been upright today
and in the past half hour she has changed out of her pajamas (the only
garments she has worn for the entire passage) and now looks almost
respectable!
Last night, with the clocks going forward as mentioned in the Blog Charles
had trouble getting any sleep prior to his watch. So he decamped from "The
Middle Kingdom" to the Pilothouse, wrapped in his sleeping bag. The final
bag of pop corn was popped, and the other two decided that Charles looked
like a Native American wrapped in his blanket. This led to a hilarious
renaming session, I will leave you to guess who each individual is but here
are the names:
"Big Belly Chief Talk Alot"
"Black Squaw Sleep Alot"
"Young Brave Red Face Alot"
"Little Bear Much Fur"
So it is with joy in our hearts, and with the strains of "Land of Hope &
Glory" that the Motley Crew of SY Osprey are fast approaching Horta, hoping
to be in time for a trip to the pub.
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