Blog 30
DolceVita
Greg Gregory
Mon 1 Dec 2014 08:08
Monday 1st December 2014
Local Time 0300, (GMT-2)
Position 19:43.77N 44:22.70W
Nautical Miles covered 1570 at 0720 GMT
I’ve got the Dog Watch, again ! I am starting the same time as Atkins Gregory, who operate outside normal office hours, so customers can walk into spotless premises each morning. Well done to all the loyal, hardworking staff!
In Mid Atlantic, the weather pattern has changed and we have beautiful clear skies day and night, sadly, the winds have dropped in tandem.
We are progressing as well as possible, deploying our reserve Spinnaker, during the day.
Our new, bigger, better, more powerful @EACH Spinnaker was badly damaged 2 days ago, and is out of action until we find a sail loft to repair it, in Antigua.
It is too dangerous to fly a spinnaker at night, so we are having to motor. Although we started off with 394 litres of diesel, this will run out before Antigua, if we have to use the engine every night.
Water is getting low, and we are washing our clothes in sea water, this gives them a clammy/sticky feel when worn next to the skin, a bit like they’ve been dipped in treacle… yuk!
We are running out of some provisions :- apples, bananas, fresh meat, salad, vegetables, yogurt, cheese.
Pete is combating this by catching fish… yesterday he caught the most enormous Blue Marlin, a magnificent specimen, weighing 6 kilos, over a metre long. We are having it tonight, with dauphinoise potatoes, a la Pete.
Despite sleep deprivation, morale amongst the crew is good. Today, we had a little side bet on our ETA, optimistic that the ideal winds in the first half of the journey, will get us there earlier than expected.
These are our bets in GMT:-
TC: Sunday 7th Dec 1800hrs
Pete: Monday 8th Dec 0600hrs
Cap’n Greg: Monday 8th Dec 1100hrs
TJ: Monday 8th Dec 2230hrs
I am a little apprehensive that, should we run out of diesel, we will arrive several days later !
A BIG, BIG THANK YOU to all sponsors of The Atkins Gregory Atlantic Challenge.
To those who haven’t yet sponsored… do so now !
Cap’n Greg
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