Day 17 - <150 miles to Saint Lucia

Shalan
Wed 7 Dec 2016 05:59
14:49N 59:08W

Ahoy blog readers!

We type today's blog as day 17 at sea draws to an end and we spend what we hope to be our final night at sea, as we close in on our target destination of Saint Lucia.

The day started amazingly with a glorious sunrise and the spinnaker pulling us ever closer to our destination on a bearing of 300. Following recent difficulties with the spinnaker halyard we excercise caution with regards to excessive wear and tear and routinely assess any damage and repair the sheet as a precaution. These visual inspections are undertaken every 6 hours and although time consuming at first the Shalan crew have now reduced the time taken as the process becomes more engrained - great teamwork! Next inspection is scheduled for 6am.

We had seen very few boats over the past 2-3 days and come mid-morning we passed NDS Darwin who are racing in the multi hull division, we'd seen them previously as we travelled to the ARC between Gibraltar and Fuerteventura. We exchanged some glorious radio communications then wished them well as we dropped the spinnaker and headed into a rainshower/mini-squall, which was both a welcome relief from the sun but also a chance for the crew to freshen up with some shower gel!

As the day continued, the miles fell as the spinnaker powered us along. Unspurisingly out diets remained true to form and we feasted on breaded tuna wraps for lunch and thick tuna steaks for dinner - we're sure that you'll be glad to hear that our tuna ration remains very buoyant! Note: If you're reading this and are in Saint Lucia please stop by Shalan as we will be offering a 'tuna trade in' scheme, you bring alocohol, you take tuna. A great offer we're sure you'll agree - someone let Martin Lewis at Money Saving Expert know!

Enjoying what could be our final sunset, the wind and sea picked up with stronger gusts and swell meaning it was goodnight for the spinnaker. We quickly dropped the spinnaker and deployed the genoa under a dark night sky filled with a canopy of stars. The night shift had since begun and with increased activity on our AIS and radar systems the crew are on high alert to ensure safe passage to our destination.

Reminiscing over the past 17 days, it seems hard to believe that we've been away for so long. Days and nights have rolled into one another seemlessly, but with our focus unwaivering and with the finish line coming into sight the enormity of the achievement begins to rise. The crew have worked as a team and have pulled together since before the race began, we've eaten like kings and laughed like hyenas, and together we've covered >3,000 miles taking Shalan from Europe to the Carribean, all with smiles on our faces.

Fishing update - both rods made a short appearance today and both were armed with small lures as not to engage in any further battles with underwater heavyweights. As our speed grew and with a tear in our eyes we reeled in our lines for the final time, we've all some great memories with those rods!

Picture of the day - it's got to be this pic of Shalan bombing into the night with main and spinnaker. Love the port nav lights lighting up the spinny and the blurred starry sky! We'll miss those night skies but never forget them!

As we sign off and continue into the dark it's at this time when we are at peak concern as historically this is when problems occur. Due to this we contiue to use the borrowed phrase from GoT, 'for the night is long and full of terrors', hopefully we miss the terrors and the squalls tonight.

'Shalan out'

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