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Starblazer - 14/03/2014 – Celebrations.



You need targets in life, little milestones to celebrate, things to keep you
going. In the past we have celebrated the first time we completed a two
hundred mile day, right now I’d settle for 160 but the winds won’t
cooperate. Yesterday we reached a milestone, the halfway point on the
longest crossing we have made, 1,480 nM (nautical miles), about 10% longer
than a statute mile at 1,860 metres I think. It took us 10 days and 21
hours but we are hopeful that the second half will be quicker. For one
thing we have found the trade winds, even though they are not very strong,
and we can sail faster than we can motor if the wind is in a helpful
direction. The second factor in our favour is that the South Equatorial
Current should be carrying us in the right direction, unlike the unhelpful
current we encountered during the first few days.

As we celebrated the first 1,000 miles earlier in the week with a steak
dinner, yesterday’s celebration took a different form. We watched the GPS
change down to 1,480 nM to destination on the dot of 0900 local and popped
the cork on our last bottle of Cava. I then made toasted sandwiches filled
with scrambled eggs and grilled bacon. This is the last packet we bought in
Gibraltar and has been stored in the freezer.

Our speed was a bit up and down all day, if only the wind would settle at 15
knots instead of swinging from 10 to 18 and quickly back again! We’d
happily put up with its direction wandering about a bit, Q (the wind
steering unit) just follows the wind. With so far still to go, it doesn’t
matter if we go a bit north or south of our track, there will be plenty of
time to correct it later. Our day’s run to noon was 151 nM, an average of
about 6.25 in the right direction. On our last boat, Fair Encounter, I
would have been delighted but I think Starblazer should be capable of more,
if only the wind would sort itself out!

Dinner yesterday evening was spicy Bratwurst with potato and squash mash and
green beans, dessert was a meringue nest with a chocolate cream pudding on
top. The Bratwurst I bought in Panama were quite unlike the Bratwurst I
used to buy in Waseca, Minnesota. Those brats were skinny and fatty and
shrivelled up under the grill whereas the ones we ate yesterday were very
much bigger, almost solid meat with spices and very little fat. I wish I’d
bought more.

Joyce


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