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Little Pea - Arc14 Blogoramma - Sailing under the stars



25:22.6N  023:26.3W
 
Tune of the day: "Starlight" by Muse
 
Day 4.  Finally, our journey is starting to feel like a passage, rather than a test of endurance.  We had a rip roaring sail last night with winds gusting 25kts and steady boat speed all night. LP is holding up well and the only scary noise in the night was a tool box which flew across the forepeak (aka the room of death due to its ability to induce instant seasickness to anyone who ventures) with a loud crash. We sent Mike up there to sort it, which pretty much put him out of action for the next couple of hours.
 
We've now switched to using Beryl, our trusty autopilot, partly through fatigue, but mostly in relucatant acceptance that she is much better at helming than us humans (Mike does of course disagree in his case).  The sailing thrill last night was complimented by a magnificent crescent moon that lit up the sky.  We all took it in turns during our watches to gaze at the blanket of stars that shone above our heads.  We were then treated to a beautiful sun rise this morning, followed the first of Ben's culinary masterpieces - "Huevos Benos", which is basically scambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms, but compared favourably to the diet of crystalised ginger, plain rice, chicken broth and rehydration salts we've been on for the past 3 days.  Spirits are now thoroughly lifted.  Minkey has started talking again using full sentances and Jags has started complaining about the mess on board again.  Ben is now enthusiastically preparing shepherds pie for dinner which we are looking forward to.  However, we have decided to rename it Doggy Pie as we are not exactly what kind of meat we are using becase Minkey didn't know the word for diced lamb in the supermarket at Gran Canaria.  
 
Our beards are coming along nicely now.  Jags has gone grey, but he prefers to maintain a state of denial refering to it as "ash blond", Ben is taking on the appearance of Grizzly Adams, Minkey just looks tough and Mike, well, er....its not clean shaven, lets just put it that way.  We also took our first washes today - wet wipes and anti bac gel.  Don't knock it until you've tried it...
 
We still have to get the diesel out of the bilges....
 
Daily stats for today:
 
Max Boat speed = 9.2 kts
Number of Reefs = Nil (but we really should have...).
Maximum Gust = 26 kts
Number of Flying Fish = 1 observed this morning, but he didn't land on the deck
Number of Stars = too many to count (but Jags had a go anyway, ah bless...)
Amount of Rain = None
Chunder = nil (hooray)
 
 
Jags, Minkey, Ben and Mike

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