14:23.89N 56:53.53W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Wed 9 Dec 2009 19:21
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Wednesday 9 December, 12:40
Well they do say if it can happen, it will and this
morning was certainly the case! After days of sailing downwind in cloudless and
hot days, we finally had the opportunity to put up the bimini and give the crew
some respite from the constant searing heat and what does the weather go and
do.....yes, you've guessed it. It has clouded over and started raining!!!!!! Oh
well, we can't complain as it is more than welcome as the sun rises at around
5:30 and by 7 is already burning you until it disappears over the horizon around
5ish. Speaking of sunrises, we have been treated to some spectacular ones, the
first you notice is that the darkness is slowly replaced by a fantastic shade of
blue before you actually see the sun creep above the eastern horizon, certainly
an impressive sight as you suddenly have light over the wildness that you have
experienced blindly for the past 12 hours.
All crew are well and still in good spirits,
especially as we are now within 250 miles or 2 days of the finish. Latest eta is
between 7-12am (12pm-5pm GMT) on Friday, so either beers and bloody marys
for brekkie or beers and champers for lunch....ok, I think you know us all too
well by now, it will be a combination of everything no matter what time we
arrive!
This morning although fairly uneventful has kept us
entertained. The early hours were spent avoiding this weather bouy to the north
east of Barbados, although we had a position for it, we were mindful that the
ocean at that point is over 5000m deep and the buoy probably had a good amount
of slack so gave it a couple of miles berth and in the end didn't even see
it....so much for the guaranteed fish!! Just after we were joined on the scene
by a 700ft tanker heading westwards to one of the islands, our AIS system said
that he'd pass within 2 miles of us so called him up just to check he'd seen us.
Quite a happy chappy at that time in the morning, and yes he had both seen us on
the radar and also visually and he was happy with the distance......even at 2
miles we were dwarfed by the superstructure and it wasn't even one of the really
big ones that we've seen on our crossing.
Earlier in the night, Tioram had engaged in a spot
of tactical racing with another competitor (well we presumed that they were in
the ARC), gybing down the rhum line. Well it wasn't really tactical on our part
as we were trying to stay dry and avoid a very large squall that could have
dampened the mood, literally! In the end, we managed to bear away onto a heading
straight down the rhum line to St Lucia, whilst our adversary was forced to gybe
away and head north, but why he headed so far north still has us
perplexed.
So the GPS currently shows us heading straight
towards our intended destination, Barbados is on our port bow about 150 miles
away..nice destination, but one for another time as we have a rendezvous planned
for elsewhere.
At the moment, we can see a blue spinnaker slowly
approaching us from astern and am sure if they get close enough this afternoon
will have some banter on the vhf, you never know it may be our old friends the
aussies on Woolamaloo. Pat and Tony have just prepared lunch of fresh bread and
a selection of pates, fine cheeses and olives, so one not to be missed. On
that note, I will leave it there and hopefully by this time tomorrow we'll be
under 150 miles to go.
Love to all at home,
Al, Mike, Moira, Pat, Tina and
Tony
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