Dear All,

Only 1,100 miles to go but no wind today, following another quite dull day. We have tried all sorts of sails configuration, gennak alone, gennak + genoa in butterfly, main + gennak, spi alone, but nothing really sexy in the end, so we have tested starboard engine + port engine and it works really well!

News from the galley: we are now getting to the end of the frozen food as we do not fully trust the frost side given the failure of the generator. We are also getting to the end of the fresh fruits and vegetables. Carrots and cucumbers already died a few days ago but the potatoes and tomatoes have shown a remarkable spirit till today. Part of the crew is very disappointed but others are quite happy to revert to the basics of pasta and canned food: since the main gas burner has also died on us (the small two are still working for now), we will soon be back to good old student days of cold canned food, sometimes interrupted by a happy fish if we get lucky. The wine has also fully resisted the generator failure, so that the end of our trip may not be too bad after all.

In the rare moments when we do not talk about food and good wine, you would be surprised by the highly sophisticated level of the on-board conversations. For instance this afternoon, we discussed artistic movies from the past with a Navy theme such as The Love Boat (La croisiere s’amuse).

When we are not busy with philosophy, we also do not mind going back to life basics such as hand washing, that is for the underprivileged members of the crew. The Vermersch family has effectively chosen another option, having preferred getting their clothes pressed and ironed by hand in a high street shop in Las Palmas. Since they could not bother getting them back in due time before we left, their fresh and ironed clothes are being sent by DHL to St Lucia and will be delivered by a personal butler as soon as we arrive in the marina over there. One boat, two systems, as we would say in Hongkong.

Noeluna wishes you a very happy night!