It doesn't get much better!
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Mon 8 Dec 2008 16:57
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Position 016:16.983N 045:56.471W
It doesn't get much better han the last twelve
hours or so. We have been going like a rocket in winds varying between 10 and 14
knots with the main and genoa up on a tight reach averaging 7.5knots.Top speed
so far has been 8.5knts. The weather is fantastic and we have just enjoyed a
nice lunch and are being entertained with Adrian's music via the cockpit
speakers. All the crew are in great spirits.
The night watches had a slow start with not much
wind and we ended up motor sailing for about an hour and a half. Having the
engine on gave us an opportunity to run the watermaker. Around 2.30am the
wind started to pick up and we have been
sailing ever since. The respective watches are vying for the fastest speed award
and with a change of watch at 2pm the race is on!
The night watches are very warm now and the stars
still spectacular on clear nights. The wind last night was tending to come
in 'waves' with short spells where it died down by a few knots before
returning to its original strength. The breeze is so warm it is like
standing in front of a hair dryer on a low setting - lovely! Wet Watch
experienced a spectacular daybreak and eventual sunrise this morning. The sky
lightened and we had an arc of around 120 degrees behind us where the sky was
varying shades of oranges and blues with large puffy white clouds dotted around.
The rising sun was extremely bright and it soon got very hot. As we changed
watches at 8am we had a visit from a school of dolphins, around twelve in all,
who played alongside us and darted in and out of the bow wave for around
20minutes or so which provided us with some entertainment - they are such
beautiful, graceful creatures in the water and great fun to watch as they
play.
As for the skipper and crew. John has now
morphed from Captain Grumpy to Captain Happy having caught up on his lost sleep
and found some wind. Hurrah! Andrew is still dressed for taking part in a cycle
race rather than sailing (see yesterday's blog), Adrian and Andy are having
fun helming in the conditions. Adrian was enjoying his turn on the helm
this morning so much that he treated Andrew and I to a 'lolly moment' - we
all had a fruit lolly from his goodie bag. Howard has used up all our limes
before they go 'off' and made us a lovely lime juice drink to keep the
scurvy at bay. We committed our last banana to the deep yesterday as it had
finally succumbed to the heat but more of food and provisioning in another blog
maybe. Howard's previous 3 S's Award (see yesterday's blog) has now become
the '4 S's Award . As well as Sun, Stars and Squalls, we've now added
Swerve - its the S wake he leaves behind when steering! (only
joking!)
We are hoping for more of this weather. If this
continues we should be able to make up some time we lost earlier on the overall
voyage time
Love to everyone at home, Jackie
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