Friday, 2 December, midnight

Strongbowofbosham
Fri 2 Dec 2022 04:05
It’s just after midnight, I’ve (Ian) have taken over from Maggy’s watch. Derek comes on at 3 am. Cup of coffee, salty biscuit, check outside with a chance to cool in the breeze - it’s hot. A big tanker had passed us heading for Africa earlier. Until AIS we thought the Atlantic was empty. We’ve passed huge Far East fishing boats, tankers and run parallel to yachts on their way west. The tanker called us. Not with a collision avoidance question but simply to ask - were we sailing for pleasure?

Derek is busy each day with the sextant. Despite the romantic notion of sailing the high seas with a traditional navigation tool that is independent of GPS, screens, batteries etc. the sextant is very limited. To use tables, plotting instruments etc is a big ask when running down wind and being more or less upright. In a violent stormy sea !!!! However as a position finding back up, taking sights and using a sextant App to fix a position makes a sextant a pragmatic back up.

We are getting close to 1,000 miles to go. Derek is keen to get to St Lucia by Friday, in time to be there to welcome Elaine when she flies in. We are moving well but luck with the trade winds will decide that. It’s a good passage but we all would like to be moored up, if only for a cold beer in a beach bar that didn’t move under us.

We’re quite well up in our ‘race’ class but the final outcome depends on luck - do we stay in a good weather window?

Now back to look out mode

15:33.15N 041:25.14W

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