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Little Pea - Little Pea's ARC 14 Blogoramma - Steady going now



22:44.7N  031:09.3W
 
Tune of the day: "Driftwood" - Travis
 
Day 7.  Now we are into trade wind sailing.  The wind has swung around to the NE and dropped off.  Our pole is out and we are currently running dead down wind with the gentle pitch and roll that is worlds apart from Life at 45 degrees.  Order has been restored down below, we enjoyed the sunrise this morning rather than look at it with a sense of relief.  Underwear has been changed and we've fixed the things that were broken.  We finally got the diesel out of our bilges and repaired the rubbish bin after Ben fell on it.  We even washed some clothes.
 
We had our first sighting of real sealife last night when a small pod of "something big with dorsal fins" briefly followed in our wake in the small hours before disappearing out of sight into the water abyss.  Jags was convinced they were a pod of Orcas that might have thought we were a whale and started to stalk us.  He was however, reassured that his choice of black antifoul, rather than grey, for this season was the deterrent.  The rest of us just made the point that Orca's don't eat fibre glass. 
 
On other news, Minkey has completed an audit of our provisions and has, so far, not raised any significant objections to the fact that we've discovered the stash of sweeties, breaking rationing rules. Ben fixed the wind generator using the "turning it off, wait for 30 seconds and turn it on again" method, which showed true brilliance.  We had our first rain squall shower.  A big string of dark clouds came through and brought enough rain for a quick shower on deck.  clothes were ripped off, shower gel applied and we had our first wash for a week.  Lovely.  Mike got his timing wrong and managed to apply the shower gel just before the rain stopped.  We almost fell overboard laughing.  He is nicely scented now though...
 
Unfortunately we have some very sad news to share. This morning, on his maiden flight at sea, Dave the Drone lost signal and flew into the abyss. He was sent up into the sky to take pictures of Little Pea sailing fully canvassed. However, early into the flight signal with Dave was lost and he quickly vanished out of sight. His battery only lasts 6 mins, so although we didn't see him ditch, we're pretty sure his demise was brief and painless.  Mike, who was controlling Dave with the remote at the time, was briefly overcome with grief feeling that operator error may have been a contributory factor.  However, poetic tributes to Dave will be most welcome and reassuring to Mike. Please send them in and we'll share the best.
 
Finally, your blog questions & comments answered:
 
1. What is a beam reach? This is when the wind is at right angles to the boat, and is a fast but sometimes furious point of sailing.
 
2. Breaking the shackle holding the headsail; can that be repaired?  Yes, all done and dusted.  We carry many spares on board, including a lot of shackles, rope, WD40 and Duct Tape.
 
3. If it is gusty, why aren't you reefed? The daily stats for reefs are taken at the time of writing. We have put it and shaken out many reefs, but the majority of the time we've been full main sail.
 
4. Where can I see what the weather is like in the Atlantic? www.passageweather.com provides a pretty good pictorial of the current weather conditions and mid-range forecasts out here.
 
5. We hope Little Pea is going to receive the full gold standard valet before the Jagger ladies arrive.  We have already been in touch with St. Lucia's finest boat cleaning team (aka "Pappa and Son") who will go to work upon our arrival.
 
Please keep sending you questions, inspiring words and ode's to Dave the Drone to [email protected]
 
Daily stats for today:
 
Max Boat speed = Nothing to write home about.
Number of Reefs = Nil
Maximum Gust =  28kts
Number of Flying Fish = numerous (none in the boat yet)
Number of Orca's = 4
Amount of Rain = Plenty to wash everyone except Mike
 
Jags, Minkey, Ben and Mike
 


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