Update 19/5

Stromboli comes home
John and Sue Chadwick
Sun 20 May 2007 01:10
Here we are at 27:40.93N 54:37.25W. and heading 040 (northeast). Its been a good day - a gentle F3 southeasterly has filled in and for once we're able to sail (yes sail!) directly for the Azores. (We've been motoring for 36 hours). Sailing today is magical - there's a half metre swell, as if the sea itself is gently breathing, and its so blue - no white horses and, unusually, we can see the actual horizon all around the boat. Normally this is broken by larger swells and waves but today there's a hard line in the distance 360 degrees around us. In the water we see the occasion clump of weed - just as S & I saw on the way down in 2005. It must be living (it can't have stayed intact if it was dead and drifted this far from land). There's a small party of petrels who show off their ultra-low flying skills around us and (if its the same bunch) seem to have been with us for 500 miles. Today we achieved our first 1000 miles. (Being British we had no great celebration - just a formal handshake all round.) Once we make land C & R will have qualified to join the much venerated Ocean Cruising Club) Today - Saturday - is wash day. We all had a solar powered shower on deck this morning and did our laundry (whether it needed it or not). So we're now sailing under main, stays'l, genoa and a hell of a lot of drying clothes. Food's lasting OK. Most of the salad stuff has gone but the onions potatoes and citrus fruit and bananas are holding out. Assuming we're at sea for another two weeks we're down to one beer per man per day (which is a matter for some concern). We still have - more-or-less intact - three bottles of excellent Malt Whisky, a few quarter bottles of Champagne and the couple of bottles of wine so I suppose we're not quite at desperation level yet. Robert's cooking tonight so I need to get out of the 'kitchen' before he ropes me into to peeling something.

Anyway we're getting on. Expect to be halfway by Monday/Tuesday The forecast gives us south easterlies for the next few days so we'll make hay...

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com