13:25.832N 50:36.751W

13:25.832N 50:36.751W Knot on Call Blog 5 / 6th December - Day
17/18
Normality returns
UHT is found, it's in the cocktail cabinet that has been pressed into service
for the duration. Since the recent gas alarm suggests that we are on to our last bottle, breakfast has been staggered to once every 3 days, or at least to wait for the generator to be switched on for electric tea. Oranges are now a measurable quantity but are still fresh and juicy . . . Phil has been allowed to supplement his diet by disposing of all the flying fish who try to stow away. The roast beef destined for last Sundays lunch has been skillfully deconstructed into marinated steaks grilled and cut into strips to facilitate eating in a rolling swell with the customary dinner time wind of 20 knots plus! We have now had a solid week of sunny downwind sailing in biggish cross waves and swell and 17 - 23 knot easterly winds that will blow from a slightly new direction every 10 minutes. We have become well adapted to moving around on a moving pivot table that swings from side to side through 20 - 30 degrees but complacency plays no part in this or else you end up on your arse on the deck or fall out of bed or even miss the toilet seat when sitting down. Talking of toilet seats we have had a recent outbreak of anarchy over the positioning of said Thomas Crappers device. Consistency is required in the dark at night, seat up, seat down, lid down in a mixed gender loo - what next cling film over the bowl. Happily following a user group meeting an agreed protocol has been reached. We have the whole of the Atlantic Ocean to sail in and yet it feels as if we are constrained in a narrow band around 20 miles wide to try to maximise our directional gain towards St Lucia. For every 12 - 15 hours we spend going north west we have to spend a couple going south west, which is not where we want to go. Having seen scarcely any boats for several days we are now in a row of three all sailing an identical track. We are counting the days, 4 days is a best guess - this Sunday afternoon. The first 6 boats have already arrived but most are still out there and we are running about a third of the way up the pack. We have 600 miles left to go, but with gybes this is likely to be about 730 miles over the ground - hang in there we will make it! Cheers John
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