12:18N 37:55W

 

Boxing Day on Bandit dawned cloudy and dismal – not as bad as Christmas Day but certainly not the kind of blue sky weather we were expecting on this crossing.  So, on with the usual chores – Christmas Day’s downpour had cleaned the decks but we’d managed to tramp a fair bit of salt and dirt inside.  While David did his usual round of checks (chafe is a huge problem on a trip like this) and cleared 33 flying fish from the decks (they are dreadful pilots) I scrubbed floors and wiped walls.  As we were having our late morning coffee (a bit of a ritual) and Christmas cake, we noticed the cloud cover was breaking up and by the time we’d finished our lattes......it was wall to wall blue sky with just the odd puffy white cloud floating by.  Even the grey Atlantic took on a blue hue.  This is what we wanted – Sunshine (and yes there is a movie called Sunshine).  Our friends on Balvenie who left Cape Verdes yesterday emailed us an up to date weather prediction (Mark is a bit of a weather guru and confirmed David’s passage plan to head south) along with the line it would soon be “bikini and martini time” – how right he was.  Let’s hope his prediction for the continuing fair winds is as good.

 

Not one to miss an opportunity I grabbed our salt encrusted clothes from the few days previously, when we’d copped the odd wet one in the cockpit, and did a load of washing.  Bandit looked very domesticated with a washing line strung up in her cockpit with clothes flying from it!  Not a sight many skippers like (including this one) but a necessity at sea.  Time for more chores – me making beds, doing the blog and preparing lunch while David brushed up on his astro navigation.  With a crystal clear night looming he was anxious to take some star sights.

 

I came up on deck for a quick scan of the horizon and was stunned to see a massive bulk carrier – a radar check showed he was eight miles away.  It’s unusual to see traffic in the Atlantic so it was a surprise and a big one at that.  Not so sure if he had a watch on – we called on the VHF (keen to see where he was from/heading) but no reply.

 

Boxing Day supper was the rest of Christmas Eve’s mahimahi catch followed by the Christmas pudding and brandy sauce we had to forgo on Christmas Day.  We even managed to share a glass of sav which went down a treat.  Sitting in the cockpit watching the sun dip below the horizon David said....”this is a John Hedley day”.  For those of you who don’t know John, he’s a Marlborough physician and great friend of ours.  Despite a high pressure job he’s one of life’s great enthusiasts, passionate about whatever he is doing whether that’s diving, gardening or playing tennis.  His favourite saying is “it’s good to be alive”.  Boxing Day was certainly one of those on Bandit.

 

The trades blew us into the starry night, increasing slightly so we took a few turn on the genoa furler to ease the pressure, we are out to get there not break records and gear.  Lots shooting stars and a smile of a moon dropping into the sea dead ahead in the early evening. The skipper made bread on his 0400 – 0630 watch and, as the sun rose into a sky flecked with puffy trade wind clouds, we figured another John Hedley day was looming.