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Annabella - Log 13 - Sunday 8th December



Position @ 1000GMT 13 15.48N
40 43.23W

Distance to St Lucia: 1180NM
Distance since last log: 156NM

We are now as south as we want to be and need to head west. Great winds yesterday and we were achieving 8+ knots of boat speed at times. Distance travelled is less than actual because of some weaving about trying to take advantage of the wind shifts. However, we now feel that we are on the down slope with light at the end of the tunnel (below 1000NM to go is the next milestone). Tomorrow we re expecting 15+knots from the north/north east and in preparation we have taken the twin head sails off the furler and hoisted the large genoa again. The spinny has been up for a few days now and continues to give us great service (not bad for a virgin sail and one some of us didn't know was on board initially). Currently we are in a lull with 5.3 knots of wind delivering 4.7 knots of boat speed.

I haven't mentioned hot and humid yet. The advice for the course is to head south until the butter melts and then turn right. At this stage we are all melting never mind the butter, especially after changing the sails this morning. We don't have a thermometer, but we estimate that it's in the 30s with 90% humidity. Not comfortable in light winds. The Boylan/Vernon bimini extension (patent pending) has just been put in place to try and keep some of the burning sun off the cockpit.

Had a close call this morning when my foot went in through the open hatch for the heads. It was definitely broken leg territory, but managed to brace myself sufficiently to take the pressure off. Got a bit dizzy afterwards and will have evidence to show when I get home from slight skinning. Still fit though and able to perform t he many duties we have on a daily basis (like writing the blog). Peter's pulled muscle in his lower back is still acting up a bit. He is managing to carry out his skippers duties despite the slight incapacitation.

Conor produced our first tomatoe based meal last night with a delicious bolognese with lots of red wine in the sauce. his new bait for fishing is a dead flying fish which appeared on the deck overnight. He is just about the right size for a dorade. Here's hoping!

We are trying to keep some handle on the boats in our class and we reckon that we are 5th with potential to maybe move up another place or two. No chance of catching 1 & 2 t this stage, but they are decent 53 footers who would be expected to be faster. here arre few other boats who we met in Las Palmas and we look them up each day to gauge progress. It would be great to have access to yellow brick on board for a better overview.

I brought a few films on my ipad and Life of Pi is proving very popular with the rest of the crew. Lots of reading going on with lots of commentary. It's probably like a book club in ways.

Anyway, enough of that for today.

Bis morgen!

Peter, Stephen, Conor, Craig & Terry




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