FINNROSE 12.30 037:39:60N 058:25:23W TUES 02/07/13
Finnrose
Tue 2 Jul 2013 18:49
engine was started as we hit an all time low of 2.9 kts. Two of the birds
visited us in the late afternoon just to say hello, but didn't stay long.
The French day was completed with a meal of chicken chasseur and Italian
ice-cream just to show that we are unbiased and flexible in our thinking.
By eleven o'clock on Mark's watch it was raining, which was accompanied by
lightning, and lasted right through Ken W's watch to three a.m.
Ken M took over at three, and dawn around 5 still showed a lot of black
cloud around and very light winds. Liz took over from Ken at 5.30 am. After
several frustrating attempts over the past fifteen days to sort out audio
leads etc. so that music could be played from the computer or ipad, Liz
inadvertently got a dvd from the computer playing through the sound system
whilst opening Grib weather files this morning. Rod Stewart's 'Great
American Songbook' may not be everyone's breakfast choice, but after fifteen
days of silence it was (literally) music to our ears...
Believe it or not, it's getting busier; two tankers came near this morning,
the Caroni Plain bound for Quebec, the other, Christina Kirk bound for
Amsterdam; the Christina is still sailing alongside us some fourteen miles
away, but at 14 knots she is going to beat us across without doubt... but
it's nice to have some company for a while. Mark organised poling out the
hanked-on jib to port this morning, to try to achieve some speed downwind,
but the wind proved too fluky, and a couple of squalls threatened, so we
dropped the sail and tidied away. The engine was started for half an hour,
but the wind has veered to WNW and we are sailing again, with the Bombay
Bicycle club keeping us company...