Tue 10 Dec 14:56.403N 42:51.249W Distance travelled in 24h 160 miles.

 

We’ve covered a massive 160 miles in the last 24 hours.  The wind has been strong and we’ve been reaching steadily. It would be great if we could keep this up.

 

This morning we reached HALF WAY from Cape Verde to St Lucia. To celebrate, Gabby prepared and served a 5 course gourmet dinner (such as can be produced on a wildly bucking yacht 16 days into a voyage in the middle of an ocean...).  To start we had some Habas Fritas to nibble (Spanish deep fried broad beans – nicer than they sound...) followed by a plate of cured Spanish meats to share (Lomo curado, Serano ham, variety of salamis) and Ovedio cheese; then a dish of spicy chorizo risotto accompanied by boiled egg wedges and the last of the fresh tomatoes marinated in salt, sugar, pepper and thyme (it tasted good – honest!). Desert was served in champagne flutes and consisted of jewelled pomegranate seeds marinated in mango juice with a sprinkle of sugar and topped with a pair of Medjool dates.  Finally there was a selection of individually wrapped Spanish sweet biscuits in a variety of flavours. Delicious!

 

We have shut off the sea cock to the salt water pump because we think this is the source of water in the bilge. Anne has been diligently bailing once a day for days now and tonight got only half a bucket so she may have now bailed out all the water trapped between the hull and the floor skins.  To have seawater for washing up, cooking, etc. we are using one of the empty 20 litre fresh water drums stored on deck and fill it with sea water every couple of days.  We’re using a siphon pipe which makes the job of transferring the water from a bucket into the drum very easy and relatively dry.

 

Sightings: sun, sea, sky, a sprinkling of phosphorescence like gentle wafts of fairy dust in our bow waves, but hardly anything.  Some nights there’s almost none.  Really disappointed that we didn’t get to see the Comet ISON – were hoping for ringside seats out here in mid-Atlantic but there has always been cloud on the horizon blocking any sightings for us. However, we are getting some great meteors and great views of 5 planets.  One large Flying Fish dead on deck this morning – Gabby said a short prayer and returned it respectfully to the ocean.