13:43N 30:51W

 

Yes there is a movie called White Christmas and yes, it is appropriate as Bandit is having her very own white Christmas here in the Atlantic.  Not snow of course but with seas building and a bit of squally weather going through there are enough white caps and foam around for us to have a white Christmas at sea.  We just hope it doesn’t get much worse as we are rolling lots and doing anything becomes an exercise in agility.  Thank goodness I cooked the Christmas roast lamb in Mindelo and froze it, complete with mint sauce.

 

This is our first winter in five years we haven’t spent working in the UK.  Last Christmas at Suffolk was our first true White Christmas...admittedly it was only a flurry although the landscape was blanketed thanks to copious pre Christmas snow.  We spent the day with good friends Penny and Peter eating and drinking to excess with fires roaring in every room except the kitchen where the Aga ruled (and cooked the turkey and goose to perfection).  For us Kiwis, used to crayfish and scallops in the Marlborough Sounds at Christmas, or cold ham and salads all washed down with Marlborough sav....it was an unforgettable experience. 

 

Hearing stories of Christmas preparations from NZ makes us a little homesick.....it will be wonderful when we finally get home and have Christmas in Marlborough with family.....hoping that, at some stage, they are not all spread out over the world!

 

Over to the skipper for the sailing stuff....

 

The seas are building from behind now, to about 2 meters, and it is rolly no matter what course I set. We have had two other boats give us good weather information this morning, predictions are for a period of squally conditions over Christmas with winds increasing to about 25 knots. There is a small high forming ahead of us that should track NE, I am hoping we will sneak underneath it keeping the winds firmly abaft the beam.  After Monday the weather looks to be settled trade winds for a week or more so back to about 15 – 20 knots. Thank you Mark on Balvenie and to the skipper on Matador for the weather information.