Sleeping!

ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Mon 1 Dec 2008 14:03
Position  018:51.234N  029:50.332W
 
 
As Howard put in yesterday's blog our night watches change every four hours between 8pm to 8am and we then have two six hour day time watches between 8am-2pm, 2pm-8pm. We are all now pretty well adapted to sleeping for much shorter spells than we would normally at home. Quality of sleep is not always great and depends on the conditions, boat speed and waves which can create a lot of noise down below decks. We have also had to make sure that we do try and catch up with some zzz's during the day time off-watch period - it is too easy to keep going only to find ourselves getting tired later. Having to crawl out of a sleeping bag at midnight and 4am, get dressed and locate/put on life jacket in semi-darkness has now become an almost automatic process. And yes it is fun...!?!
 
The crew are all in good spirits and enjoying the trip. The sailing has been pretty good and has varied between exhilarating sleigh rides to doodling along in light winds. The trade winds we would normally expect have been disrupted by a number of low pressure systems and are not now forecast to appear until Wednesday. At time of blogging (12.30pm Mon) we are absolutely creaming along at 8+knots after a slow start with the spinnaker and genoa. The wind is from an ESE direction and we have another ARC boat within a few miles of us doing a similar course. We have only motored for two hours in an almost dead calm one night since leaving Las Palmas.
 
And what of the crew? I am still in a state of shock from opening the door to the aft heads and discovering a naked full-frontal Andrew having a wash down. I may need counselling. He was in a state of even more shock as I was holding two clothes pegs menancingly in each hand.......!
 
We managed to catch another fish yesterday morning-a pretty large one  but failed to land it on board. We are obviously novices but it put up a ferocious struggle as it reached the transom and broke the line.
 
Captain John is worrying about chaffe on the ropes which is a real problem - we have to check the rigging and all sheets daily- and the absence of trade winds but is managing to skipper a happy crew. No mutinies yet and jumping ship might be difficult in any case!
 
Adrian is resuming fishing responsibilities again from Andrew today in the hope of landing one this time and is a great Bat watch leader.
 
Andy C has had better luck with fishing having narrowly missed being hit by a flying fish on the night watch and we now have the culprit for bait. We have seen many shoals of flying fish and they are a great sight as they fly by across the water.
 
Howard is our astronomer in residence and sextant king - his positions get better and better!
 
Andrew is having a  'plimsoll line' marked on his wine glass for sundowners as his hand appears to slip when pouring his own. Nicola will be pleased to know that he has lost 3cm from his waist line although discretion prevents me from revealing the original start point - there is some way still to go!!
 
The night watch games continue - Alpha watch are now on to composers while Bat watch being children of the 50's and 60's worked our way around a Monopoly board. Infuriatingly we still cant remember the third street in the Pall Mall,Northumberland Ave trio! Ditto the sixth protaganist and murder weapon in Cluedo! Answers on a postcard please!!
 
Signing off for now. Love to all at home, Jackie
 
PS Caza and Nicola - we've received your messages- thanks x