Day Five (i think)

Tripled
Sun 12 Jun 2011 01:25
As you can see I'm losing track of the days. I could look at the log I
suppose but my fingers are numb so I'm going to take a guess that we are on
day five. At 0110 UTC our position is 45:25.2N 16:32.8W. The wind is 24
knots and we are going 6.6 knots. We are fully reefed with the jib away, a
bit excessive you might think but then our little autohelm is currently
dealing with huge seas and occasionally tipping us over on our side so, as
always, we would rather err on the side of caution - especially overnight!

Today has really been quite a horrid day, and yet we have had a pretty good
time. It has been very windy - Force 7/8 for much of it, with 3m + seas,
grey skies and almost constant drizzle which sometimes takes a break in
order to let proper rain soak us. Spirits could have been down, but yet we
had Andy at the helm for most of the afternoon, looking like a drowned rat
in the rain and absolutely loving it, huge grin on his face as he calls out
'yeeee-haaa', surfing down the waves! Well, he has done most of his yacht
sailing up in Scotland so this probably counts as good weather for him! I didn't go outside once until about half an hour ago. James got a bit hot and decided to get dressed up in his oilies and take his book outside. Only to come back in five minutes later with a completely drenched book, admitting that on hindsight reading in the rain is probably not the best idea!
James took off his patch today, so no more hallucinations for him, and
goodbye constant sleeping. A strange fact - both him and Jilli had exactly
the same hallucination/very vivid imagery - of a book in their hands that
they could turn the pages and read the words of. But without a patch he is
still not seasick so that's good. He wants to put another whole one on as he
is quite missing the vivid dreams, but mum has vetoed that idea!

Although we have an actual chef on board (Andy), mum and I have been so
organised with our food that he hasn't had a single chance to do any
cooking. Pre-cooked chilli and potatoes for dinner tonight. I did suggest he
cook us up a gourmet meal but apparently that was quite difficult in the
current conditions....
Saturday night being party night, we ended up having a little sing-along in
the hours before the shifts started. Lots of Disney, then ending in Boyzone.
Mum vetoed alcohol due to the force 8 winds however (she's always vetoing
things!) Music taste has gone rapidly downhill! (Not that I'm knocking
Disney, hakuna matata is the perfect thing to say when a huge wave is
approaching the stern of the boat!)

Forecasts are for winds to be slightly less tomorrow and then continue to
die. Current ETA is probably Friday as we are aiming for a little stop-off
in Salcombe for their triple chocolate crepes. (Guess who's idea that
was?!!) Anything to put off finally having to accept the year is over!
(Sorry Shelly, we will be home soon enough!!)

Hi Jilli!!!