Water Music position 22.48.25N, 27.59.90W

 

After reading last night’s report from the crew, it is clearly time for the definitive record to be published.

 

We have been making steady progress and are almost down to the right latitude to enable us to alter course and head due West to Martinique.  We have been enjoying trade wind sailing at its best – with no more up than a reefed and boomed out headsail and still we continue to make about 150Nm per day.  It is a little rolly as we are going straight downwind – but believe that will ease when we start heading due west – which should be tomorrow.

 

This morning we caught a fish – which we have yet to identify, but I believe it is a Dorade.  We have Mike M on the case and hope for an answer before we eat tonight.  That brings the tally to 3 Tuna and now this one.  Timing is great as we are pretty much at the end of the fresh food and so start to rely on tins.  Apparently, amongst all the tins of tomatoes, we have tinned tuna...

 

The crew is happy, or at least I keep telling them they are happy.  I am happy, as I get to make the decisions and they then do them.  This is a good thing.  Reading the log of one JC Foot in his first crossing in 1975, a happy ship is a tight ship – or was it efficient or both.

 

Tim is learning all about weather.  Having read about weather in the latest Jack Aubrey book (I think he fancies himself as a Russel Crowe alike), he asked about meteorology, so I gave him a book on weather forecasting.  He raced through the first chapter on clouds – lapping up every bit of it.  His summary was that there were 50 shades of grey.  Does that book get everywhere!   He is also desperately trying to claw back favour from Grace after his initial comments and i) what Grace did with her culinary disasters on the boat and followed almost immediately after by ii) expressing deep concern about having home made food once real stuff had run out.

 

Graham is, well, just Graham.   I am certain that the unjustified whingeing in the previous blog has something to do with the conditions being too good.  Graham has been on the boat many times before and this is the first time he has been given a bed.  He is simply too long to have cluttering up the floor and so we have given him the fo’c’s’le and he then moans about the featherlight bed he sleeps in.  There is some truth in the fact that he is airborne half the time – but isn’t that just the fun of sailing?