Happy Thanksgiving! In honour of our American crew member Jooj we are celebrating Thanksgiving on Tin Man.  Jooj, Andy and I saw the day in with a spectacular sunrise off our port side and then soon got the spinnaker out.

 

We decorated the cockpit with star spangled banner bunting and listened to cheesy American country rock, until we couldn't stomach it any longer. I'm not a Thanksgiving expert but I get the impression that 30 degrees and sunny isn't the usual thanksgiving vibe that Jooj is used from his Colorado days. Unfortunately we have no pumpkin or pecan pie and there is definitely no American football to watch but nonetheless we have just had the most amazing Thanksgiving dinner prepared entirely by Jooj.

 

Today has been a bit of a day of milestones, although some may be more tenuous than others. In the early hours we passed the 500 mile mark since we left Las Palmas on Sunday. As with previous milestones only I seemed to be enthused, although it was around 5:30am so I will forgive a lacklustre celebration by the others. Shortly after that our total miles sailed since we left Weymouth exceeded 2,250 which is more or less half of what we expect the total Weymouth to St Lucia via Gran Canaria journey to be. So we are now, including leg one, half way through. We are, however, not yet half way through this current leg, and our more southerly route has kept us a bit east of the main pack. Sam and Andy have been diligently studying the weather data and using the optimum routing software to calculate the best route and they are certain that this strategy is going to pay off - and I have every faith in them. We have had some absolutely cracking sailing conditions today so if that's anything to go by it's definitely working. We may not be leading the pack but we are having a brilliant time. Have I mentioned, it's not a race?

 

During the small hours of this morning we also realised that we would, at some point today, cross the diagonal line across the Atlantic where the longitude and latitude numbers are the same. We waited patiently, and with a building sense of excitement as this magic number approached - 20:26.20N 20:26.20W. Again it is generally just me who celebrates these events enthusiastically but it keeps me amused.

 

As did nearby mariners making weird animal noises over the radio - around 4am Jooj and i were treated to meowing cats, a chicken, a sheep and some other weird things which could have been anything. I guess 4am on a container ship can get boring, but it obviously kept them amused. Around this time we were also convinced we heard a whale's blow hole off our starboard side. By this point the moon had set in a fantastic setting straight into the sea and so it was pitch black. We heard the 'whale' again a few minutes later and then it went away so at this stage we are going with "unconfirmed whale sighting". To top that off we passed a turtle this afternoon, and just a few seconds ago a flying fish landed on the deck, flapped around for a bit, and then fell back into the water.

 

So with the thanksgiving festivities, the milestones, and the various animal sightings today, it has not been your regular kind of Thursday for the crew of Tin Man.

 

In other news we have had to initiate a strict one in one out beer in the fridge policy as we've now had to have one or two warm beers which, when you're in the tropics, is totally unacceptable. Thankfully our cold ones are being kept nice and chilly by the amazing personalised Tin Man ARC 2023 beer can Coozies we have, courtesy of Steph. Thanks, Steph.

 

We've enjoyed our forced isolation; cut off from social media and the news cycle. But we did also get a great email from home today from my friend Paul which we loved. Apparently he is reading the blog to his husband every night just before bed. So, John, sleep well.

 

[Additional note from Jooj]

 

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thinking of all of you, and hope you have a wonderful day of celebrations.