00.00hrs Distance to destination.......................... 1033 miles
We had a good nights sailing, the wind never going below 26 knots, but it was cloudy and very chilly,
brrrrrrr, brrrrr... The seas were moderate, which always makes life on the high seas much more pleasant (ie, one can have a simple thing like a cup of tea without it spilling down your front like a drunk spilling his pint all over himself).
Talking about simple things, or things taken for granted at home, like the garbage... Garbage at sea is a big problem. We do not want to pollute the seas with our rubbish, so this is what we have to do:
1. All food waste goes into the sea to feed the fish and other sea creatures;
2. All plastic bottles and containers are firstly washed, and then cut up into small pieces and put in our plastic bin liner;
3. All glass bottles have the bottoms knocked off with our steel hydraulics lever, and disposed into the sea, and of course they sink, like beantins, and all tins, cut off the top and bottom and over the side, where they also immediately sink 5,000feet to the bottom;
4. All other objects, that can float, will be chopped up and put in the bin, even with chopping stuff into little bits, the bin will eventually fill up, so we then put the full bin bag into the rib, where it will stay until we reach a port with a garbage disposal system.
Now, when one is at sea for 10 or 17 days, the number of bags accumulate, hence the reason for chopping everything into little bits and condensing it as much as possible. All this takes time, just in case you think we are all just balming off in the sunshine with nothing to do!
09.00hrs RADIO CALL We all like this and all crew look forward to skippers class where he recalls every day the distance of all boats in the fleet from A Lady, today, again we have increased our lead over all boats, and even managed to reduce the lead Wild Tigris had on us by 20 miles.
During the morning, we had a great discussion about west Cork and all the people we know who live there or go there on holidays, Sham has been going to Crookhaven since the late 1950's with his father Cashell on the white "Tern" so all
in all, we had a lot in common to chat about.
16.45hrs We covered 215 miles in the last 24 hours, that is great going and is the 2nd highest milage we ever achieved on this boat, and this is with a 1 knot current against us all the time. The wind is responsible for this, not withstanding our sailing skills. And the wind is still blowing about 30 knots all the time and (looking at our grib files and the forecasters for the fleet) it looks as if it will hold all the way to St. Helena. All down wind trade wind sailing, any sailors dream conditions, except we would like a bit more heat.
Skipper cooked a beef mongolian sweet and sour dish, and creamed potatoes. Yum,yum. This was followed by Christmas cake made by Paul Tetlow and his mother, and was truly delicious. We hope she will have some more next Christmas for us.
21.00hrs Big, big black clouds are gathering behind us, we don't like the look of it at all, so we reduce the amount of sail, just in case this turns out to be something nasty.
The night watches :- 21.00hrs / 00.00hrs ..........................Aileen
00.00hrs / 03.00hrs...........................Skipper
03.00hrs / 06.00hrs...........................Sham
06.00hrs / 09.00hrs...........................Emily
That's all for today,
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)