Day 22 of Atlantic Crossing
Swiftwing
Sun 16 Dec 2007 23:56
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Lat/Lon at midday GMT: 13:10.13N
57:49.46W
Another record breaking
24-hour run, 161 miles! We're heading for land and there's no stopping
us!
Having taken the GPS reading,
we hauled up the main and mizzen sails and adjusted our course, heading more to
the North. The foredeck team - myself, Neil and Alan - got the job
done in record time thanks to pleanty of practice over the last three weeks and
the promise of a pancake breakfast afterwards, courtesy of our
skipper/cook. We even took the soaking we got in good humour. As it turned out,
breakfast was the last half-loaf of bread made into toast by Neil. Dougie all
too aware that the time for a mutiny is long passed.
Neil, following the skip's
example, pulled a similarly mean trick on me, offering to half the last
slice of toast, then smearing marmalade over it before I could react. He claimed
ignorance of my aversion to marmalade, saying - in the roll-your-eyes
manner known to children the world over - that marmalade was just the same as
jam. It isn't.
We took down the mizzen as it
was forcing us off course, but still managed a fast run of 7-9 knots for most of
the day. We are expecting a very good run when we take our GPS readings
tomorrow.
Our resident navigator, Alan,
braved the elements to get his sights. He was rewarded by a massive lump of
water which hit the boat side-on and threw itself over his head - so much for
the old way being fun. This was much funnier for us than for him but its just as
well he was using the £4.99 charity shop sextant.
Neil has turned over a new
leaf concerning the ongoing work of splicing the little parachutes to the sea
anchor. He's gone from doing absolutely nothing, to splicing a few yesterday and
today and getting on at the rest of us for not doing enough!
The chef made something a
little less improvised tonight, ravioli with a cheese and pepper sauce. As
tastie as ever though. There has been a lot of talk recently about what we are
going to eat our first night in Rodney Bay. The general opinion is that it
dosn't matter so long as they serve it in a pudding bowl with a spoon, we're not
sure if we'll remember how to use knives and forks.
John
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