And so another virtually windless day dawned – we had to hand steer all night as the autopilot couldn’t cope with almost no way on. Helly did her bit with 2  two hour stints but then declared this morning she was tired – she has been asleep all week!!!!!!!!!! The youth of today – but she is a star. The number of compliments she has got (and I have heard) from other jealous fathers & mothers is huge!

 

A nice gentle breeze filled in this morning but it looks like we only have a 24 hour window until the windless phase so we are hoping to make it in by lunch Thursday – famous last words! As we speak we are now just 45 miles from the Lizard so could be Steak tomorrow night!

 

Milk has run out (except for that brown stuff called Hazlenut milk!) Cheese has got a bit sweaty, eggs are out of date and the chorizo is looking risky but we still have soup, pasta, sauce, tuna, rice, quinoa (bought some Tess!), spelt and a few other veggie bits as well as plenty of water!

There are a few bats around us.Aliana, Xanadu, Dragon of Hamble and Juliette – nice to have people around with whom we made friends in the Azores (risk of a few beers Thursday if we are in – after the steak that is!)

Outrageous continues to look after us. She has carried full sail since we left Ponta Delgada 8 days ago and although she has creaked and groaned a bit, apart from one batten, no other breakages of note. The fact that we were unable to deploy any coloured sails (spinnakers or gennakers) and that I failed to bring a pole for the genoa) has led to a massive loss of relative performance and all appear surprised that we are keeping up as well as we are! The learning curve has been immeasurable – although I have had Outrageous for 8 years I have probably learnt as much in the past 2 passages as I have in all the time I have had her.

So sad then that I have to say goodbye to her.

Or do I?

For more details on her fate see what I hope to be my last AZAB blog tomorrow

From Helly and me

And Outrageous

OUT