Position: 14:11.71N      45:14.98W

 

 

Just about 900 miles to go to St Lucia and it’s pretty much like any good Universal Studios Roller Coaster ride here.

A fairly smooth roller coaster with deep valleys and the odd twist.
We seem to averaging 7.5 to 8 knots and have peaked at 10 knots.

Wind and waves are chasing us from behind on the starboard side and just occasionally catching us up with a decent sized splosh.
For the past 24 hours the wind has been a very nice 20+ knots for the most part. (For the sailors, we are sailing with just one genoa sail.)

An hour ago the wind grew to 35 knots and to just over 40 knots for maybe 25 minutes. With the wind back down to the 20’s we have just un-reefed the genoa again.

We keep telling ourselves that the boat’s name is ‘Timeless’ – Time doesn’t matter, this is not a race and we would rather arrive with all the sails in tact thank you.

 

We download the latest weather information by satellite most days and it seems we are well and truly established on the Trade winds Conveyor Belt now. We expecting exactly the same winds from exactly the same direction from here to St. Lucia.

 

Splishing and Sploshing   ...OOPS!

One of the MAIN rules of ocean sailing is to keep ALL the deck hatches closed at all times so that no spurious waves can splash up and soak the bedding below. With the heat of the Tropics this can be a real trial of self discipline and endurance (unless you are into saunas and steam rooms). However, the crew of Timeless are made of stern stuff and those hatches have all been closed up tight!   
Except..

”It was really really hot last night and I needed air and ..”

 

Excuses flowed like verbal diarrhea but none of it could hide the fact that the bedding in the AFT cabin was soaked through!  ugh!!!   double ugh!!!

 

Les was left to strip off the bedding on the roller coaster, dry it all off by ironing, and start again. Ironing sheets is the last thing Les expected to be doing mid Atlantic, but she was a good sport.
I can’t bring myself to mention whose bed it was.

 

Last night we had one of Amanda Neal’s recipes for lamb dinner. Les had pre prepared it before we left so that it just had to be heated up. Wow!!!  Stellar meal! We have used this book extensively since sailing on one of the Neal’s adventure sails. For any sailors looking for really good on board recipes and meal planning guidance  you have to check out this book.  [The Essential Galley Companion. Amanda Swan-Neal. ISBN 0-9676904-0-4 ]

 

Yesterday lunch time Cathy passed up to the cockpit from the galley a bowl of salad to Bob.
”yum yum, who is this for Cathy? For me?”
“NO!” said Cathy, “It’s garbage for the sea!”

 

..such is the quality of the meals onboard ‘Timeless’.

 

Still no fish!
BUT let me tell you about the one one that got away.......

It must have been HUGE!

Last night as Cathy was winding the fishing line in we were disappointed to find that the lure had gone – snapped off completely and vanished. 
..and we are using a 100lb fishing line! . Some fish out there has our 3 hook fancy dancy Mahi Mahi catching lure in his mouth or tummy.  Hope he puts it to good use.