Day 17. Position 14:30.477N 059:46.855W
Stravaig
Tue 9 Dec 2008 20:55
The winds have once again been all over the place today both in terms of
their strength and in terms of their direction. This afternoon we only had
11-12 knots which is really not enough wind to get this boat going on a
downwind leg like we are on at the moment, especially in such a huge swell
and with a dodgy mast!!! We therefore decided to reef the mainsail rather
than flogging it more and once again we took the decision to switch on the
engine to help take some of the strain off the mast. This evening the wind
have increased to a much more steady 17-18 gusting to 23.9!!! At last!!!
With less than 80 miles and having covered some 3,000 odd miles we
eventually get the sorts of winds that we were promised in the brochures!!!
Typical eh? At this speed our ETA is now at 5 or 6am our time so 10am or
11am your time tomorrow morning tomorrow....yipeeeee!!!!!!
This afternoon we undertook a soapy wash of the decks and bright work in
order to get her ready for the finishing line - well she has to look her
best when she crosses the line doesn't she? We also undertook a general tidy
up and clean of the heads (toilets and showers). If we don't do these sorts
of things now while we are underway then there would be no chance of getting
everyone to focus on doing this sort of work once we arrive at Rodney Bay in
St Lucia given the pull of the beer and rum punch!!!
As some of you may know, as part of this trip we decided to try and raise
some sponsorship for a very special charity called The Ellen MacArthur
Trust. This charity arranges sailing events and trips for children who have
suffered from Cancer from all over the UK, including Scotland, as part of
their rehabilitation. We haven't been able to check out the Just Giving web
site since we left on the 23rd however at that time we had raised around
£2,250 from your very generous donations.
Unbeknown to us, one of our friends who has been keeping track of our web
diary knows Ellen MacArthur fairly well and in a recent meeting with her
mentioned our trip and our efforts at raising sponsorship for her Trust.
Unbelievably she wrote to us the other day. Here is a transcript of her note
to us;
'Dear Scott and family,
I just wanted to send you an email to thank you personally for deciding to
use your trip across the Atlantic to raise funds for the Ellen MacArthur
Trust.
Your support for the Trust is absolutely fantastic - and I cannot thank you
enough for that!
We are really excited about all the great plans for the Trust next year,
including the "Voyage of Discovery" trip around Great Britain which starts
in May. The young people onboard will stop at various ports and go back to
the hospitals where they themselves were treated to talk to those currently
in treatment about the voyage.
Many thanks once again and all the best for your own trip!
Ellen'
For those of you have already donated - a big thank you from all of us here
on Stravaig. We will leave the Just Giving web site open for another couple
of weeks in the hope that we can swell the coffers a bit more prior to the
Christmas break. Dig deep, every little will help no matter how small, and
thank you in anticipation of your kind donation.
So with only 78 miles to go and good winds we are all looking forward to
what will be a very eventful next 10 hours or so. Tom is on watch with
Cameron just now, then Stephen joins Tom at 9.30pm for an hour and an half.
Tom will then swap with Angus at 11pm with Stephen and then Alex. Scott is
then on at 2am with Alex, and then Cameron joins Scott at 3.30am taking over
from Alex and then it is back to Tom again at 5am. By then I suspect that
the cockpit will be busy as we all stay up for the last few hours of the
trip and to spot land for the first time in two and a half weeks and to
watch the final sun rise of the trip! It feels like we are about to have an
early visit from Santa tonight as we all head to bed early to catch up on
some sleep before our next and final night watches!
Two photos for you tonight; one of Cameron and Angus giving the deck a soapy
wash this afternoon; and one of everyone after the wash down enjoying only
our second but well deserved beer of the trip! By the way that's a can of
Sprite that Cameron is holding and not a can of Heineken - honest Gov!!
One more blog to go. Good night.
