Diamonds Are Forever - Diamonds in the rough...

From a glassy, quiet mid (ish) Atlantic, hello from Diamonds! Sorry we have been out of touch for solong, Sat phone issues left us sailing blind for the first week, but now we are back and ready to go. Some weather information would not have gone amiss before yesterday but, hey, we are still here! A hugecommendment to my crerw, they did not even blink an eye as our communications went awol on the first evening of the race, choosing instead to give it a slight gailic shrug and get on with the more important matters like chosing there bunk for the night (do you want to spoon the banannas or get cozy with the oranges?) and keeping the boat moving (with a few pressure boline lessons thrown into the mix).
I can now happily report that all 8 of us (yes 8 - on our Elan 37) are well and truely instatutionalised into the
watch system, we have not yet had to crack open the tinned food (a huge thankyu to the victullers and the creative
culnairy skills of the crew!) and we have even all managed a wash. All is very happy on board, we have had a huge mix of happy hour enbtertainment, from chemistry lessons from Nancy to bingo with Ali. Felicity has our bets on arrival dates (taken before operation windhole commenced 48 hours ago, roughly 10 miles from our current position!) Sara has been keeping us entertained with her eclectic music selection and Amy and Luna have kept us ammused for hours with various games.
Alice has taken to spotting ummm.....shapes in the clouds that may attest to how long she has been stuck on a boat with a bunch of women. Any one who has been in the tropics and seen the formation of squall coulds will understand.
Speaking of squalls we have found a few of them, with our first big one hitting a few nights ago, bringing 39 knots
and all sorts of reefing fun and games. We are now slick with our reefing procedure and square up to any squall that
tries to get us....bring it on we say!.
Massive fat windhole of doom aside, we are doing pretty well on board, everyone is happy and thriving on the challanges ocean saialng presents and enyojing those moments when the whole boat just feels right. Everyone is heming in all sorts of conditions so I am confident that they will all arrive in St Lucia more confident, able sailoirs than left Las Palmas. There is never a quiet moment on board, laughter and conversations vairying from the sublime to the ridiculous fill the watches. Although we still have a way to go, we will get to you, at some point in December!!
Love to all at home from all the crew, dont panic we have not decided to anchor up and create a utopian society,
we are just waiting for some wind!
Lizzy - Skipper Diamonds are Forever.