Talulah's Log - a pleasant penultimate day - so far!

Talulah's Web Diary
Paul & Anette Morris
Sat 16 Dec 2006 20:38
position "14:30.86557:23.301W"
 
Saturday 16th December 2006
 
After a quiet night in which we both saw the lights of both passing ships, and of a yacht or two, we both saw dawn in with sausage and beans!!   Following breakfast the usual sail changes went on until we were satisfied.   Somehow we always seem to be sailing on a point of sail that we can't just manage with a catamaran.   And that is sailing dead down wind, with just your main and jib up.   The shrouds on Talulah stretch too far back to allow us to push the mainsail out too far.   So tacking down wind is the only way for us to do it - now that we haven't got the spinnaker that is!
 
The day has been spent avoiding squalls, and we have heard on the net that some yachts experienced winds of 40 knots plus in the squalls.   So far we've experienced only the rain and a little more wind - however the rest of the day and night is yet to come!   We also experienced another equipment failure last night, and that was our mains battery charger.   However, I do have another and I'll fit that when we arrive in St Lucia.   Meanwhile the twin diesel engines will have to charge the batteries - they probably do a better job anyway, with two 50 amp generators!
 
We've still got a half tank of water left, about 400 litres, and enough diesel to motor the rest of the way if we need to.   But we won't.   Anette still has enough food for a return trip.   But we won't do that either -for a while anyway.....and next time we'll take a route that has more wind on the beam!
 
Sailing double handed has been an experience for us.   We think that the watch-keeping system we have works and is good for us.   Our days and nights have passed in fairly good humour, and the regimen that we adopted, such as 'clipping on' and wearing life-jackets when only one of us is on deck, and at night, has been worth it.   We have not 'rushed' or raced to do anything, the boat has always taken priority, and the pace of life has been moderate.   We seem to sleep our "instant" tiredness off, but after almost 20 days at sea, we're starting to feel a little weary - and we're down to our last 4 cans of beer!   We're hoping that we will arrive in Rodney Bay, St Lucia in the early hours of Monday morning, all things being equal........