Simon’s diary entry...

 

wow ,what a great 24 hours sailing. after taking the spinnaker down yesterday afternoon for some repairs, we kept it down and made great ground instead with our yankee, stay sail and full main sail.. However we gave in to temptation at 0300 this morning and turned on the iron horse as our boat speed had gone below the 4 knot mark.... then at first light, after the first fish of the day was caught which was a tiny baby dorado, the spinnaker was sent up and our giant horizon blocker has been trucking along between 8 and 10 knots all day. she’s handling 25 knots and an average swell like a champ and its sometimes impossible to tell what’s going on or what the conditions outside are really like. when watching a movie on the oversized flat screen with surround sound enjoying a shoulder of lamb , its important to remind yourself that you are at sea before going out to the patio to enjoy the stars!

Today was a good day mileage wise, and a good day anyway for that matter . The boat hit the mid 8 knot range all day and we cant see Cape Verde on the plotter anymore which is a good thing. Weather at present is 23 knots of breeze at 050 degs, holding us on a reach all night until the small hours when the breeze may die down.. We took the kite down a half our ago which is a good thing as the combination of racing sailors and downwind conditions can only make for unnecessary fun and games through the night.. anyway we still have a speed of 8.5 with the smaller head sails up. Anyway, life aboard is great, cake in the oven as we speak! lovely, almost full moon up lighting up the sky, lets hope it keeps the flying fish from landing on our deck like usual, poor little guys can’t see at night hence landing on our decks during mid flight! i wish all my friends and family could experience something like this! I also wish I knew what day it was!!

 

25th Nov Position at 2100 UT 15:57.0N 033:13.1W COG 270 T, SOG 8 kts. Full main, Yankee and Staysail up, sailing really nicely, barely any diesel used at all. 1631 nm to Antigua.