15:24.0N 40:47.0W
The Egret has Landed - 6 Dec 2008

Phil Blogging again. Thank you for the feedback, and thanks to T & P for their missives.
A perfect day down here, deep blue Ocean, 20 knots of Easterly wind, bright sunshine and the boat is doing 7.5 knots in the right direction.
An Egret has just landed on the sprayhood (yes really, and we haven't been drinking), about a 1000 miles from the nearest land. Where is it from, where was it going, what do we do with it now? Any answers from the ornithologists out there? Reminds me of Paula's Simon Drew picture at home 'No Egrets'. Perhaps I should ask if I can transfer it to the boat for good luck.

You can tell we're settling into the routine now - I've started writing Poetry. OK, it's more Pam Ayres than Wordsworth, but it may serve as a useful reminder, and hopefully amuse someone.

A Transatlantic Passage, nearly 3000 miles of blue
How will it make us feel and what will we think and do.
Are the weather Gods with us? We can only pray.
And will the GPS keep working to show us the way?

Dreams, ambitions, nerves and fear all a mix
Slow, slow progress shown by the last fix.
Round the clock watches, four on and eight off.
Well that's rather easy, I hear you all scoff.

But we are so busy, there's a lot to fit in.
We have breakfast, X oneses and e-mail our kin
then lunch and a kip before a beer and then dinner
Two courses and coffee, perhaps that's why we're not thinner.

Log entries and writing, thinking and reading
An occasional check on what the boat's needing
Weather data, course changing, sails need tweaking
Is it really the 'Meaning of lLife' we are seeking?

You may be wondering what things we all miss
You of course Darling, and family, a kiss.
Clean sheets, feeling cool, and ad libitum beer,
It's not views of the sea, that's patently clear!

Maybe we're selfish, that oft used word
Do you expect guilty feelings, don't be absurd.
Guilt; a wasted emotion, I've heard someone cry
Too much of that and life passes you by.