Still Going 40:47.6N 65:56.7W
Ellatrout3
Thu 24 Jun 2010 12:13
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Day 31
Very mixed fortunes today. It started badly, in the
first 4 hours of darkness we had two thunder storms which kept me very busy.
Between the storms the wind was light so full rig, in the thunder storms
heavy squalls would come in totally unseen in the darkness and hit us with
gusts of force 5 or 6 which meant frantically rolling in the jib and
reefing down 2 or 3 reefs, only for it to be all let out again. After 4
hours of this I was pretty weary and unintentionally fell asleep and awoke 4
hours later with ET heading NE with no jib and 3 reefs in a force 2. Many
curses!
After that the wind got up, the sun came out and we
had beautiful sailing at good speed in the right direction. The only
interruption was a large ship which my AIS said was on a collision course.
I called him on VHF channel 16 and by mmsi number but got no reply.
In the end I had to tack to avoid him as he sailed serenely by.
Used my last parsnip today, still in v good
condition unlike the carrots which I finished a couple of days ago which were
very black, but OK under the surface. The last of my cabbage is still
going, one or two meals more.
Day 32
Sleep much better organised although the wind was
backing through out the night going from SW to E a good working breeze giving
good speed. Unfortunately by dawn it had dropped coming aft of the stern
port quarter. In this direction the wind pilot can't cope so
spent most of day on the helm to keep her going, which made it a long hard
day. It was a lovely sunny day though and I got a bit sun burnt so it
wasn't all bad.
The birds are back, since leaving the Gulf Stream
area I've seen both albatrosses and petrels
Day 33
Well, I thought I had seen a big thunder storm the
other night, Last night we had a big Daddy of a thunder storm. Why do they
always come at night? It started with what I would now call a normal storm
with rain and sudden squalls. Then Big Daddy came in; He started with
steady heavy rain, no real sign of a storm and so I stripped off and
got the soap and shampoo expecting a pleasant shower, then He came wham
force 6/7 winds, torrential rain, it was so heavy it made a waterfall off the
mainsail. there was I; soap in my eyes from the shampoo, slippery with
soap, nothing on, pitch black, thunder and lightening banging and flashing all
round trying to get the sail off before any damage was done. AND the
rain was really stinging on my bare parts!! If I wasn't well washed I was
certainly well rinsed.
Dawn brought heavy soaking mist and no wind. As the
sun rose so did the mist and the wind a little we are now flopping along at
about 2Kts in the waves left behind by Big Daddy.
At the time of writing it is just midday, got to
hold it together for another 260 miles.
Roger/Dad/Poppa
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