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Annabella - Log 9 4th December



Position: 17 03.52N
32 22.43W

Distance to St Lucia: 1658NM

Wind speed continues to be disappointing with 3-6 knots for the past 24 hours. The good news is that it is from the NE which allowed us to hoist the spinnaker for the first time. Despite the wind speed we are making probably on average 4.5 knots of boat speed. Some of us didn't realise that the spinnaker has never been used on Annabella and has been in its bag since new. Conor and I were itching to use it and it has saved the day for the past 24 hours (so to speak). The forecast still promises stronger winds in the near future (whenever that is). We intend to switch the Genoa for the twin head sails while still flying the spinnaker which should leave us set up to take full advantage of the following winds. The key question is exactly when we should do that. The genoa gives us more options if the trades don't fill in. The updates from the ARC office suggest that the boats north if us are in fairly light winds as well. Further south may be stronger, but it is too far and would take too long to get there.

Photo shows Conor with his first catch on the fishing line (old boot). However, he managed to land a dorade yesterday which we had as a starter before our chicken dish dinner. It tasted delicious. Hopefully there are more to come.

Ocean Adventure called us up on VHF yesterday and it turns out that the skipper (Rick Ganly) was looking after "Celtic Mist" for the Haughey family while it was in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Celtic Mist was owned by the former irish Prime Minister and has now been donated to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Society. The coincidence is that I (Terry) was part of the crew which brought Celtic Mist from Cowes to Waterford in 2011when it was transferred to the IWADS. I had met Rick in Cowes at the time. It has since been refurbished by removing the bath and the double bed in the aft cabin which have been replaced by crew berths. The wine cellar has also been removed, funny enough it was empty. The electrics were also completely replaced. Rick and I plan to catch up in St Lucia (att Fiacc!).

The weather is much warmer and we take down the spray hood during the night. The sky is absolutely fascinating with shooting stars, satellites passing over, the milky way etc.

Not much else to report, so until blog 10,

Adios

Peter, Craig, Conor, Stephen, Terry


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