14/12/07  2:30 PM

As advertised the wind has shifted and stayed ENE Force 4. We’ve still got the Asymmetric up but the course is almost due South.  We’ll keep on like this for a few hours but then will have to think again.  If we carry on we will have to make up an additional 140 miles when we hang a right.  It’s a hot afternoon and the cloud cover is beginning to fill in.

17:00

The Wind Stays ENE.  We will drop the Asymmetric before dark and carry on with a poled out yankee.  If we’re too slow we will motor over night to make up some of the excess Easting.  Tomorrow afternoon the wind should go stronger and more Northerly in which case we could Gybe and stay more or less on course.

Nik’s computer has miraculously returned from the dead.  It must have been  just knocked out. He has now backed everything up so it if dies again it won’t be so serious.

18:00

Wind down to 10 knots from behind. Not really enough at the moment to warrant poling out the yankee, so the unfamiliar sound of a 240 horse power diesel invades our consciousness...  The Asymmetric actually furled okay this time as there was very little wind.

20:00

Steve Nik and I have just finished dinner, I’m about to have a shower and the fish line whirs into life.  It turns out to be a long slim snake like “Pipe Fish” which Steve spurns,  Actually while he was spurning it, it unhooked itself.

20:20

Engine off. Pole out.  We can  make 6 1/2 knots  on course so we’ll give it a go.

15/12/07 6AM

Solid Grey Morning. As I come on watch it begins to sprinkle lightly. Wind stayed NE  most of the night and boat speed maintained 6-7 knots. A rolling night  for all  sleepers.

Wind projection suggests  that sometime late tomorrow we will either run out of wind completely or what there is will be on the nose. I suppose it had to happen sometime.

The sprinkle becomes a deluge.  There is only one squall showing on the  48 mile screen of the radar.  It is about 6 miles in diameter and directly overhead.  The wind it brings gives great boat speed.

9:15

The wind settles in to the NE so after 12 days and 2306 miles at sea we find ourselves on a Starboard tack for the first time.  We’re able to steer about  15 degrees West of course but this is fine as we have an 18 miles cross track error in the bank from our earlier Easting.

The top spreader has damaged the mainsail which will have to come off to be repaired in Rio as well as the yankee. When I bought the boat I chose the swept back spreader option with jumper struts in order to avoid running backstays.  In the end Selden (the mast maker) said we had to have the runners as well. So now we have the worst of both worlds, swept back spreaders AND running backstays.  It is very difficult to avoid sail damage running downwind with the sweptback spreaders on this boat.

11:00 AM

24 Hour run 178 miles of which we motored 9 miles in 2 1/3 hours.  420 miles to go.  ETA currently Monday afternoon at 2PM, as boat speed is over 8 knots at the moment

15/12/07 14:00

The rain has really settled in, the sky is a grey mush, visibility very poor and it seems like it will go on forever.  Wind continues NE force 5 and we’re making reasonable time.

15:00

I’m on watch. As usual, Sotiris has had his midday meal and retired for his siesta.  Nik has made himelf an omelet and Steve is pottering.  A fish strikes and Nik rushes out in his shorts to land the fish in the rain. I go hard astern and drop the yankee while Steve comes to assist in his shorts.  Sotiris appears in an Oilskin jacket and watches Nik land the fish.   I stand dumbfounded as he insists on having his picture taken holding the fish Nik has just caught and then goes back to his siesta. Nik returns to his now cold omelet. Steve cleans the small tuna on the aft deck, in his shorts, in the rain. I go back to my watch and my book.

17:00

On the change of watch a small fishing boat appears out of the murk only 100 yards or so away.   He is  80 miles offshore in foul weather.  With all the sea clutter there is no way we can boats like that on the radar.

19:00

At last the rain subsides, the clouds break up ahead and we are rewarded with both ends of a rainbow.   It’s surprisingly chilly…and it looks a lot like the English
Channel out there.

20:00

Sotiris cooks the tuna in the oven with Garlic and oil. When it’s done he beats a hasty retreat to the cockpit while Steve serves it up. He will have his share tomorrow.  Our share is a bit dry and bland but this is always the case with Skipjack Tuna at least it makes a change from chicken or sphag bag.

Midnight

We’ve been motor sailing for a couple of hours while the wind made up its mind. It’s now blowing ESE a very healthy Force 6.  I come on watch and Sotiris and I drop the pole and we’re off again on the Port Tack with the wind just behind the beam.

16/12/07 7:30 AM

We’ve half sailed and half motor sailed through the night.  Wind is currently SE at less than 10 knots.  It does give the engine an assist. The Wind forecast looks as though we may be motor sailing most of the rest of the way.

11:00 AM

24 Hour Run 196 miles. Including 8 1/2 hours of motor sailing for 74 miles.

Current ETA tomorrow Monday @ 9:00 AM, however we’re motor sailing at over 9 knots at present and will probably won’t keep it up all the way, but the ETA is definitely tomorrow AM sometime.

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13:00

We have at last escaped the perpetual low sitting on top of the boat dumping on us for the last few days and emerged into the sunlight.  Wind SSW Force 2 so the motor chugs on. It’s pleasantly fresh. Several local fishing boats either side of us ply their trade.

14:00

There are quite a few fishing boats around. Although we’re 25 miles off shore the water is only around 50 meters deep. Whirr goes the fishing line. It’s easy to stop the boat as we’ve only got the mainsail up, plus we’ve got the routine now.  Nik winds the fish in, Steve gaffs it and hoicks it out of the water and Sotiris poses for the first pictures.  Actually all three of them posed with the fish while I watch as a bemused spectator.

The fish is a very impressive Wahoo measuring 1.3 meters in length and weighing between 15 and 17 kilos. Steve butchers it and fills the freezer with Wahoo steaks.

I’d better put a bottle of Rose in the fridge.

Nik is grinning from ear to ear and is convinced that it’s a bigger fish than his dad (an inveterate fisherman) has ever caught. It’s certainly the biggest fish we’ve ever caught on any of my boats.

We pass through a morass of  fisherman’s long lines on floats and almost come a cropper but  manage to reverse out of the maze of white floats while a local fisherman comes rocketing towards us. As we carry on there are dozens of floats marking submerged nets.  This seems to be concentrated around the cape we’re passing and we hope it won’t carry on in the evening.

20:00

The sunset was spectacular not for obscene colours but for aqua tints reflected in the occasional cloud. A band of pale blue on the horizon giving way to a splash of lavender pink.

The evening meal of Wahoo steaks is by far the best we’ve had for some time.  We’ve been sailing for a couple of hours but the wind seems to be going and our ETA seems to be extending so we will be motoring again soon.

I’ve been asked for a translation from a previous entry.  For my American friends “sphag bag”is UK slang for Spaghetti Bolognese...actually it probably should have been "sphag bog" but then I was never very good at phonetic spelling…..

The engine alternator is not charging again.  This is probably not a fan belt problem as we originally thought but a problem with the alternator mounting bracket itself. The 24volt 175 amp alternator is a very heavy beast.   Too heavy to be mounted directly on the engine and its bracket failed several times during our first few ventures at sea.  Every time we fixed it the problem would simply move a bit further down the line. It was last repaired in Gibraltar in 2004 just before Moody/Princess sent us a replacement which is currently buried somewhere in the bilge. Another Christmas job.

Sotiris has just celebrated 5000 miles on Spindrift @21:35. With a GPS picture to prove it.

17/12/07 10:00 AM

We’ve arrived.  We did 202 miles in the last 23 hrs. 182 miles of which were under power during 13 ½ hours.  Last night was breathless.

Trip total from Capo Verdes 2717 miles average just over 195 miles/day.

Total time under engine 37 Hrs 30 minutes for 328 miles.

 I will post some pictures tomorrow when I've access to the Yacht Club internet connection.  As its Monday most things are shut down.