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Cleone - CLEONE Leg 22A Day 8 - Over Half-Way



Still nearly nine hundred miles to go.

Are you a half-empty or a half-full sort of person?  The Skipper's the former.  He says that there are still nearly nine-hundred miles to go.  For the rest of us, we are over half way there, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the wind is blowing a fresh breeze behind us and there is still cold beer in the fridge.  True, the wind pulses a little now and then, and true it's right behind us, which makes steering quite challenging, and means that we are not going quite as fast as we would if the wind was on our beam a bit more.  But we are on our way to Brazil, and that means the beautiful city of Salvador, cold beers in comfy chairs, showers every day, conviviality, carnival and much more.  But, the Skipper persists in an Eyore-like fashion, ""over half-way" people are often disappointed when things don't turn out as planned, whereas us "nearly nine hundred miles to go" people are occasionally (and I only mean occasionally) pleasantly surprised when things go right for a change, and take it in their stride when things go wrong, as they usually do."  And on he went.  "Take this morning" he said.  "I dragged myself out of my pit at quarter to six, and was not surprised to find the stove had fallen off its gimbals in the night and there was no tea.  Nor was I surprised when we could not get through to Cape Town on the radio as required, however, I was marginally cheered to find the engine was actually working and the batteries were all charged up."  Continuing, he went on: "and you people would have been very depressed by the fact there was no tea, and it would probably have spoiled your whole day!"  He then removed three of his four tool kits from the locker, spread all Cleone's spares across Graham's bunk, and woke everone up by removing the stove and taking it to peices half in the cockpit and half out, blocking everyone either in the cockpit or down below, so the watch could not change as planned and nobody could get any breakfast.

Well, be that as it may, it's been a great day's sailing, with better and more consistent winds, and yesterday a big Tuna was safely landed on the aft deck - it must have been about 30 lbs, which will give us delicious fresh meat for then next two days or so.  And after a lot of muttering and cursing, hammering, screwdriving and sweat, the skipper has actually managed to get the stove back on some sort of temporary gimbals, and he's proved it is working by baking a fresh loaf of bread.  So there's a chance that the rest of the tuna may get cooked for lunch and supper today.  Even the Skipper might smile (I doubt it - Ed).

We might actually reach Salvador some time in February, if we are lucky (must be the Skipper messing with the blog again; better leave it in - Ed).

Meanwhile, all is well with us, and very best wishes to all of you.

James, Graham, Jenni, Shayne and Mandy

Yacht Cleone
15o10'S 023o51'W

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