13:05.6N 040:20.4W
Author: Ric
It's RAINING! It's been raining for hours. Not that kind of 'Ooo-quick, get
the shower gel' kind of tropical rain - this is the proper, non-stop English
channel, wet drizzle. It hasn't really got light all day, and we've been
ghosting along through the murk with rarely more than 8 knots of breeze from
varying angles - mostly behind us. The only shimmer of hope is the
featureless image of another yacht, Nisida, only about a mile off our port
bow - we've been gaining on them slowly all afternoon, although we suspect
that this is because they've chosen to stay below and mend their broken
fridge. We're lucky not to have such distractions, although I admit that a
fridge would be a nice creature comfort.
Other yachts to the south, notably Fair Do's VII and Desna have slowly got
past us in the last 24 hours. They're now about 25 miles ahead, their much
lighter hulls being a big advantage while the wind is so light. As long as
we can keep them less than a day ahead we could still beat them on corrected
time, but with 1200 miles to go, anything could happen yet.
Paul's taken to domestic chores today - cooking and sewing. We're all
thankful for the slight variation to our diet, as he prepared a pasta,
chorizo and sauce dish (which actually would have looked quite at home in a
foil bag like the rest of our food). He's now hiding from the rain, sewing
up our running spinnaker that's taken a bit of wear and tear over the last
few days.
One of our snap shackles blew apart in the night, releasing the kite from
the end of the pole. Sandy ('spoons'), Jo, Mike and Sebi got the situation
under control, which involved getting the kite down and repacked without
waking me up, which is excellent news in my book. I was woken for the
re-hoist, slightly confused as to why we were putting another spinnaker up -
not sure I fully regained consciousness throughout the whole thing, and
enjoyed the 16 minutes remaining of my off-watch.
More drama - Sebi became our first galley casualty, scalding his hand while
making a cup of tea. He insisted on finishing the job before treating the
injury - Paul obviously looked desperate for that tea! I was extremely
excited to have reason to break into our extensive medical kit and enjoyed
playing nurse. Poor Sebi now looks a sorry state - the dressing may be
overkill for such a minor injury, but it makes him feel special.
We had a message from Jeremy at ARC control, concerned that the loss of our
spoons represents an illegal dumping of the boat's equipment and as such
makes us lighter and at a competitive advantage. They've insisted that the
offender is punished by any forfeit deemed suitable by the skipper. Can't
wait for the bar in St. Lucia...
Got to go - our wonderful solar powered wind instruments have just failed
again - told you it was dark!
Nurse Ric
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