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Lydia - Leg 2 Day 3 - A Way Down the Line



Having gone south of the rhumb line initially, today we have tended to creep
back up to the north in order to maintain a favourable wind angle for our
sails and earlier this evening we crossed the dotted line on the plotter and
so are just slightly north of the direct line between Cape Verde and St
Lucia. We've swapped company with CALISTA, who has got ahead of us (as she
should being a big catamaran in ideal reaching conditions for them) and
ROXANA (the Italian Malo 47) is now just ahead of us both in real terms and
the latest leader board signal received.

Conditions were right today for the cruising schute to have its moment and
it was hoisted soon after breakfast and recovered just before sunset with
remarkably little drama. The skipper has reminded us all that its colours -
shades of light and dark blue - were chosen by his wife, Nicola, and that
they match the seat covers in the saloon. Our challenge, being 4
occasionally grubby blokes, is to ensure that the saloon seats continue to
match the sail by the time we get to St Lucia! The schute pulls Lydia along
beautifully but we've had to keep on our toes to keep her under control as
the wind tends to shift in both direction and speed under passing rain
clouds. The max speed log reading to beat so far is 11.2 kts.

There's been some grumpiness today. Nothing significant amongst the crew but
the stand-alone generator and charger have had a bit of a falling out and
charging the batteries has become a rather protracted affair. We suspect
that the charger is not enjoying the tropical heat so it shuts down from
time to time. We've decided to treat the batteries to a full top up charge
tonight and we've been running the engine in neutral for a few hours. In
addition, we've been experimenting with energy saving by turning things off
as much as possible, including the fridge & freezer overnight. This saves
many amps and our food still seems well chilled or frozen respectively. The
Mate, Matthew, is however concerned that we may become over zealous with
this regime and turn off his life support system!

Steve brought a tear to our eyes this evening. Not with a sad medical story
but with his 'Carribean goat' curry that could have fed 8 but miraculously 4
of us managed to clear it all away in one sitting

Don't even mention the fish subject.

1705 miles to go and another day of steady winds expected tomorrow.


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