Fai Tira Blog 16.00 UTC  Thursday 26th November

Fai Tira in mid Atlantic.   18:55.28N 43:48.02W

Well we are still heading west to our goal of Antigua and a well deserved rest and a few beers.  Today sees us still at the front of the fleet of smaller boats doing about 140 miles per day.  Wow.  This is because Denise one of our women on board is working like a dream.  Keeping us on the Rhumb line!! well nearly.  We are expecting lighter winds over the weekend so we probably won’t perform so well. Richard Bolt one of the rally directors is amazed with our performance and sent an email out to everyone saying so.  We have been mostly goose winged over the last couple of days but the wind veered around from the Northeast to the Southwest, we were having problems keeping on a Westerly course.  So we changed the sail plan just before dark last night to broad reach mode.  The only problem with this was we had to aim a bit too far South to keep the sails inflated.  We stuck with this configuration overnight and we zoomed along at about 6 to 7 knots.  We kept on a course of about 230 degrees until 1400 today when we reverted back to goose winging and getting back on the rhumb line.

The daily radio net is getting more and more difficult to operate as the boats become strung out across the Atlantic.  We all try and give our positions to the net controller so that he/she  can relay the information to rally control so they know we are OK and progressing.  I have been using the SSB radio to keep in touch with Barry Underwood back in Warwick.  I am amazed that the radio will work over 2500 miles. Barry has been giving us weather updates as well as let me know how bad BT is at providing project management these days.  I definitely got out at the right time. 

John and I did treat ourselves to a Satellite phone call to our wives from mid Atlantic the other evening.  How bizarre to be 1000 miles from land but still be able to talk to your loved ones.  Of course you are receiving this blog update via the Satellite phone which has been kindly lent to us from my good mate Rob Price and his wife Jo. Thanks Rob and Jo.  Hope the house is finished soon.   

I am currently reading a classic sailing book by Victor Slocum about the adventures of his farther Joshua. The book was given to me in by Ron and Lynn Dartmouth before we left.  The book written in the early 1900’s in olde English describes the adventures of the Slocum family as they ventured around the world with the head of the family, Captain Slocum a merchant sea captain.  Whilst reading this book it brings home to me what real adventurers those early sea captains were.  The chapter I am reading at the moment is where Captain Slocum decides to build his own 35ft boat and sail it from South America to North America a journey of over 5000 miles.  He did this in little more than a large canoe with sails.  All he had was his wife and 2 young children as crew.  No GPS, VHS or Satellite phones in those days just the stars and sun to navigate by.    It makes our trip seem like a holiday in comparison. 

Bye for now.

Pete and John