Today has been lots of fun though not due to the great sailing we've been doing.
All started well as we were making 5 knots under sail but that dropped off late morning plus what did remain veered round until it was on the nose. Cue engine, but before that: SWIMMING!!
I'd been keen to swim mid Atlantic from the start but it isn't really an option when the boat is trundling along at speeds I certainly can't keep up with so I was secretly quite pleased to have the chance today. The water was so warm and so blue, it was excellent! I did keep an eye out for wildlife as I was hoping the barracuda we caught the other day( of which we still have an impressive amount left) didn't have a big brother out for revenge, luckily nothing more exciting than some seaweed was seen.
After swimming we got the engine going and have been motoring since, there doesn't seem to be much wind anywhere as most of the boats we are in contact with are all using their engines too. Dad has been doing his sums and we still don't have quite enough fuel to get us to St. Lucia so we are all keeping our fingers crossed that some wind appears from somewhere and ideally not from the West! The skies this evening have beautiful cloud formations which according to the weather briefing from Chris Tibbs (round world yachtsman and weather guru extrodinaire for those non sailing readers) forecast the trade winds. Unfortunately they have not come up with the goods as yet as what we are experiencing is certainly not the steady 20-30 knot winds from the East!
We have just heard the incredibly sad news that Andrew Nash, crew member of Ocean Wanderer, died suddenly this morning of a suspected heart attack. All our thoughts are with the crew and his family. Ocean Wanderer has been close to us at various points of the journey and we wish them all speed in getting to St. Lucia.
On a more sombre note than usual, Nyda out.
Rosie xx