Day 3
Sadie
Mon 25 Nov 2013 17:04
|
26:11.8N 017:05.2W
Busy out here today with 8 yachts in sight as we
cook tea and start to get ready for the night watches. They are all off to
St Lucia with the ARC (you can google ARC to see what that is all about).
We did consider joining them when we originally thought up this trip but didn't
want to be part of someone else's adventure and as they are generally big, fast
boats they should be leaving us behind. Either way we are all spreading out
over the North Atlantic and we should be on our own again by the
morning.
Last night was similar with lots of big ships
making their way up and down the coast of Africa. One of these looked like
a small town and was coming close. We were tracking it on our AIS Radar
which also gives the DSC number and allows us to speak directly to the ship
as if we were on the phone. Tim spoke to them on his watch as they
were filling the horizon and they turned out to be two tugs pulling an oil
platfom on a 900 metre tow - we changed course to keep out of their way
!
The whole night was hard work with light winds from
mostly the wrong direction and big seas with occasional bursts of stronger wind
so we were often all up with sail changes and were all knackered and glad to see
the sun this morning. A much better day today and we have been storming
along (and catching up on some of that missed sleep). Menu for today
has started with Grapefruit, homemade bread and preserves, followed by lunch of
minestrone soup and for tea tonight we are looking forward to boiled gammon and
spicy rice - there is no sign of scurvy in the crew at this point.
On the medical front, Tim lost a filling overnight
which defeats the object of his visit to the dentist last week.
Lots of you have been sending us texts and thanks
to all of you - to summarise some responses and drop a few names:
Sam and Steve D, thanks for the sports reports,
even though they are universally rubbish results. Tim is a Spurs fan and he
was reading the report to me as I was busy in the cockpit so that went down
really well.
More sports updates would be welcome and Ricky is
keen to know what happened in the Grand Prix if there are fans out there -
although we suspect the answer will be Vettel won again.
Dave Smart - We hope you have caught more fish that
us ! But we are still in shorts whilst I suspect you are chasing cod in 2
degrees.
Katie - we have a boat full of water and plenty of
beer but if we ever do run out we shall consider your suggestion.
Rowles kids - looks like you have all settled in
without dad for a while - be good for mum and granny. And keep the dog off
the sofa !
Thats all for now except to say that we are
enjoying our adventure and hope that all is good with you. And for us to
tell Laura that we are thinking of you after your message about
Tom.
Sadie
|