NoStress - Log Day 16 - Guest Author - Pages from the Diary of the Yacht Hi All,

Today’s blog is a lift from the pages of the Yacht NoStress’s diary for the last 24 hours. I’ll be back on the driving seat tomorrow.

Take care everyone, and thanks for reading,

Alex & the NoStress Crew

++ Diary Entry Begins ++

Sunday - 8:30pm
Heading; 260 Speed: 7.4kt
The crew finish dinner later than usual and the sun has just set. Jake & Claire attend to the clearing up and then go to bed, followed by Alex & Paul, leaving Nick & Des on the first night watch. As usual their conversation revolves around food, liberal political viewpoints (including the improvements needed to the benefit system to make life easier for the long term unemployed), and their shared love for “Jennie”.

Sunday - 10:30pm Shift Change
Nick & Des OFF, Jake & Claire ON
Heading: 250 Speed: 6.8kt
A quiet watch broken by tea & coffee just after midnight. Claire resorts to pacing the cockpit at 2am to stay awake until shift end.

Monday - 2:30am Shift Change
Jake & Claire OFF, Alex & Paul ON
Heading: 260 Speed 7.1kt
Another peaceful moonlit watch. Cargo vessel spotted steaming on heading 090 5 miles off the bow at 4:00am. Tea & coffee at 5:30.

Monday - 6:30am Shift Change
Alex & Paul OFF, Nick & Des ON
Heading: 258 Speed 6.8kt
Sunrise: 8:15am
No wildlife on show this morning. Other members of the crew (some bearing more than a passing resemblance to wildlife) start to surface just before 10am to take breakfast, fruit & cereal with tea & coffee.

Monday - 10:30am Shift Change
Nick & Des OFF, Claire & Jake ON
Heading: 252 Speed: 7.4kt
The crew are now all up and engaged in their tasks of the day. More maintenance and cleaning work (crew seem obsessed with the generator for some reason).
Lunch at 12:30 - last of the line-caught fish with ham salad wraps.
Crew discussion at 1pm regarding the remaining resources on board - limited diesel/water/gas. Conclusion is that supplies should be adequate but they will need to be used carefully.

Monday 2:30pm Shift Change
Jake & Claire OFF, Alex & Paul ON
3:00pm 1st reef put into the main - wind gusting just over 20 knots.
3:30pm another ARC sailboat sighted. About 6 miles off our port stern. She proceeds to cross our transom and then gybes to follow us, but disappears beyond the horizon two hours later.
The sophisticated, cultural debating sessions that are usually a recurring theme aboard NoStress are not to be found today, instead one can witness Jake, Claire & Alex engaged in a closely fought game of Top Trumps (Horror edition).

Monday 4:30pm Shift Change
Alex & Paul OFF, Nick & Des ON
5:00pm officially halfway to our destination with just over 1,340 miles remaining. The crew discusses the plans for the much anticipated “mid-Atlantic” celebration.

Monday 6:30pm Shift Change
Nick & Des OFF, Claire & Jake ON
Nick & Des head below to prepare dinner. Thai chicken curry with rice followed by bananas flambé with merengues cream and chocolate chips (ones that were destined for muffins but not quite right for muff-cakes), and - a glass of wine for each member of the crew. Their first drink since Gran Canaria, and their last until St. Lucia. Crew spirits seem high despite some concerns about the possible needs to reschedule flights.
8:30pm Claire & Jake still on watch until 10:30 shift change. All remaining crew in bed.

++ Diary Entry Ends ++