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Shalan - Day 16



14:23N 55:24W

Ahoy old buoy,

Day sixteen began well however the wind dropped off around 2am meaning the spinnaker came down and engine came on for a few hours. Luckily, shortly after sunrise conditions improved and we had the sails up again and were maintaining a very respectable 8-9 knots for much of the morning. For the most part the day's been sunny and clear the only notable exception being a heavy shower this afternoon which actually served us well as those awake when these rain storms hit seized the opportunity for a long overdue shower!

Due to a fridge management oversight on my part the intended slab of tuna marked out for tonight's meal was still totally frozen come supper time but thankfully Eric was on hand to save the day and served up some "stoemp", a Belgian dish consisting mainly of potatoes and carrots with a couple of hot dogs (think, 'continental' bangers and mash). The stoemp was excellent however the hot dogs not so much! Food rations are dwindling and we're also now totally out of all soft drinks except water including the christian sparkling variety. Although there's still plenty of cold beer and a few bottles of red available... tough choice!

For some time now Andy has been obsessing about a clunking sound coming from the stern, Oli had previously remarked on just how much time Andy has been investing in trying to identify this sound over recent days often staying awake late into the night listening to the walls of his cabin and contemplating what to do next. This afternoon in extremely hot conditions both Andy and Gaeton finally found the cause and within an hour had it fixed. In short the autopilot pump mounting had become loose allowing it to bang against the hull when under load, bolts now tight the issue has gone, important work to be sure and we expect Andy to average an additional 20mins sleep each night following it's repair!

Tonight we continue to sail along nicely under main and spinnaker making 10 knots and have just passed the 333.3 NM to destination mark as well which we all marked by raising one arm and briefly standing upon one leg! The radar looks squall free so far and the air temperature makes for lovely watch conditions for the crew. Fingers crossed it stays this way!

Obligatory fishing update - Rods remain on standby, however as we close in on land and the realisation of just how much Tuna remains in our freezers we wouldn't be surprised if they fail to make another appearance this ARC...

Photo of the day - Gaetan getting a mid afternoon shower at the helm today

Tom (aka Private Brownwater......for reasons not yet disclosed)


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