We did promise a half way party, which was celebrated with presents from Coral and Becca/Jess/Lewis/Jo. Much thanks!: ) There was also some dancing to Bob Marley - Be happy.

Emil cracked his chemo light from the Swedish military, it was a great disappointment; Tip – Don't buy white light. Luckily i have an orange one that will be cracked once we arrive.

 

Two days ago the furling line to the main “broke”, so we have sailed with reefed main while we tried to fix it. After much frustration we decided to replace the infinite line by a longer one, so now we have got back the control of the main sail. Yay! We have also had our first experience of normal passage weather; downwind sailing, winds coming from behind and sun. Feels good man!

 

We took the rope mending days as an opportunity to learn that it is very hard to mend ropes and next time we start with replacing it all together. Emil taught Coral on how to make a monkey-fist knot, a knot great for prison fights and to help throw the rope further. Still one week to go so we will see which usage this knot will have

 

Yesterday we experienced our first real squall, giving us 46 knots in the gusts. Great fun as we were all prepared with reefed sails and Orshi on the helm, doing a great job. Captain Gatt slept through it.

The winds that were very nice during the day died at midnight and only the swell remained which rocked the boat at night. Our passage has so far been very uneven, one hour we are doing 7-8 knots and the next 2-3 knots which required engine to reduce the sails from flogging and the boat from rolling, something Coral loves...

 

1095 miles to go!! 105th overall

 

Facts of the day:

Boat preparation by Mat – Orshi and I spent time slowly preparing Ostra over the previous 6 weeks to the start of the race. Jobs included sorting all storage, spares and general maintenance plus provisioning. Enough food and drinking water was bought to last in excess of 24 days.  We probably slightly exceeded this, which was a good thing when we were experiencing light winds. We can only motor for about 1/4 of the trip – we need wind (good wind!). Provisioning involves a careful selection of fruit and veg and various stages of ripeness. All has to be stored in special ways – tomatoes cannot be next to peppers, carrots get wrapped in tin foil and kept in the dark. Many fruits are kept in swinging hammocks; we also use a freezer and 2 fridges, one fridge less cool than the other for different foods i.e salads. 200 litres of bottled water was stowed mainly under the floor. 60 eggs also under the floor – the list goes on!

 

It’s also my birthday today! Happy birthday to me!! (Mat)