Rolling along
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Thu 11 Dec 2008 14:20
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Position 015:38.876N 054:22.691W
Our adventure rolls on - literally. Life on board
Ula for the last few days since we finally got the trade winds has been one of
continual downwind rolling from side to side on the waves. I think when we
do eventually get ashore we will all fall over (even before the celebrations
begin!) Everything has to be on something non-slip or it's gone and just getting
clothes on, washing and staying upright can be a bit of a mission. We are
all finding it very difficult to sleep when we are off watch at the
moment due to a combination of the heat and motion of the boat
and everyone is very tired. Howard's analogy of the stages of a
marathon in his blog of a few days ago is a very good one. I think we could say
we hit our 'wall' and are all just hanging on in there to the finish
(emphasis on 'hanging on' given the rolling!)
We had another good run yesterday with
approximately 170miles under our belts. The Wet Watch has managed to be on watch
for the 700,600,500 and 400 miles to go marks and its now a bit of a competition
for the next one. We managed the longest 'watch handover' ever at the 700
mile mark just so we could claim it as our own.The Alpha Watch managed to find a squall in the early hours of this
morning and got a soaking. We now have 388 miles to go to our waypoint off St
Lucia. If all goes well and we continue as we are there is a possibility we
could be in by Sat pm.
Andrew has been awarded the Greasy Spoon Award this
morning for a fabulous fry up of bacon, egg and tomato sandwiches. Despite this,
Nicola will be pleased to hear that his GTI has remained on course with a new
measurement yesterday of 96cm. (he can't believe it either but the measurement
was audited by Adrian!) Whether this positive trend will continue once ashore is
up for debate at the moment - he is threatening a fitness regime to
offset the likely excesses in St Lucia but I wouldnt throw out all his old
trousers and shorts just yet! The night watch games sink ever lower - last night
we got on to 60's and 70's TV programmes and a very silly i-spy.
Andy C has been given the Slumberland Award
for managing to sleep on his back angelically without snoring .
Fishing activities have been shelved as we are
going far too fast (7.5-8knots) so it will have to be pasta tonight rather
than a gourmet fresh fish offering! It may be a bit presumptuous but everyone
has started bringing out more and more rations from the 'goodie bags' and we had
a blow out yesterday afternoon on Andy C's jelly beans and Andrew's wine gums as
well as a Mars Bar on the night watch.
Not much further news today so signing off for now
to bake some rolls for lunch today. Our Spanish loaves (curiously named
'Bimbo'!?) are almost finished and great to save for the bacon
sandwiches.
Thinking of all at
home.Jackie
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