Kantara the star 31:28N 52:37W
Kantara Atlantic Odyssey
Andy Hemens
Tue 22 May 2012 12:57
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Had a really rewarding 24 hours sailing, managing
to keep Kantara purring along at over 5 knots in 8-10 knots of breeze. Amazed
how well she has sailed in such light winds and given the amount of provisions
on board, a real testament to the sailing skills of the crew to keep this up
through the night. We had a small LED torch rigged up on the tell tales and it
required considerable focus to keep her in the narrow wind angle that kept her
moving.
I think I am starting to make some progress in
convincing Malcolm that you cannot sail a boat without tell tails and that he
should junk his beloved electronic wind instruments or at least relegate them to
backup support status. For Malcolm's friends and family please ensure you get
him a set of tell tails for Christmas and birthdays!
Alas at 7.45 this morning the failing breeze
finally gave up and we had to put the engine on. We are now heading east at 6
knots and have around 750 miles of engine range which we are going to have to
use with great care to complete the next 1250 miles. We made it 2400 miles from
Antigua to Horta in teh Azores when we set out, so in 50 miles we will reach
half way and will therefore plan a suitable celebration.
Malcolm and I have been trying to sell the merits
of Desert Island Discs Archive, DIDA, and we fittingly listened to Dame
Ellen MacArthur last night at dusk. I personally find it very relaxing, often
insightful and useful for helping me drift off to sleep in the day.
So far on this trip I have concluded that George Michael is probably not as big
a dick as the media might have you believe, although slightly confused, Brian
Moore would really benefit from being on his own on a desert island for a
considerable while, Professor Bain Cox is a good bloke and doing a great job
promoting science, Richard Dawkins might not believe in god and Stephen Hawking
should not be confused with Richard Dawkins and I should give A Brief History of
Time a go.
So as a special treat and as a testament to DIDA
and getting half way, tomorrow we will be listing our individual 8 discs, book
and luxury!
Given the flattening of the boat we all got a
little 'house' proud yesterday and there was ample cleaning, including a
thorough job on the fridge and the gents had a deck shower under the bucket
whilst Claire did her nails down below. For those of you that did Lejog it will
not surprise you to hear that Ian was a complete wuss and screamed like a baby
when his body felt the 'cold' Atlantic water.
Ian also put a line out for the first time and
did snag a pretty large fish but alas the line broke and it got away. Given the
weather I suspect there will be more fishing today and the sextant will also
make an appearance.
Andy
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