Metaphorically Speaking

Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Thu 11 Feb 2010 09:22
Thursday 11th February 0445 local time 0845UTC
12:13.3N, 066:22.83W
 
Correction: I cunsulted the Blackberry yesterday and realised, yes it was Wednesday but no it was not the 11th, but the 10th which therefor makes today Thursday the 11th - or so the Blackberry says.  
 
We left Antigua at 0900 to get the 425 miles to Los Roques before daylight was over on Thursday. I am now 20 miles outside Los Roques and daylight hasn't even begun! Looks like 425 miles in 46 hours - though its not over till its over.
 
This recognition of not being done till we are safely tied up (not counting your chickens till they are hatched) comes not only from experience but years of hearing as a child: "this time next week .... if all is well", which really is the less presbyterian version of "this time next week ......... if the Lord spares us". However despite having heard this this humble almost fatalistic view of things constantly when a child I can rarely prevent myself from mentally writing the victory speech while I am still half way round the track, and this has led to my taking my eye of the ball and falling at the last hurdle on  many occassions, so I have learned the lesson.
 
So we are where we are and we know where we hope to be in a couple of hours but there is still work to do. I have just been on deck looking forward over the bow. It is a very dark night as there is no moon but the stars are out in all their splendour. Rhiann Marie is charging along at 10 knots. Hundreds of waves have passed under her keel and broken over her bows; the spray and phosphoressence being picked out by the glow cast from the nav lights. It is mesmerising to watch - she will not be deflected from her course despite the sea's best efforts to knock her off track she is relentlessly and effortlessly chewing up the miles. In the darkness we are sure where we are going, and the winds have been kind to us this time helping us power down the track.
 
We know where we are going but will we ever get "there"? It seems to me that it is good to keep moving "there" just a little bit further away that way we can keep on keeping on. 
 
What are we talking about, life, or a round the world sailing trip - I have no idea its 0500 and I've been up all night. Think it through yourself. I've got something large on the radar so I've got to go.