We are getting in to the routine of ocean sailing and having a wonderful time. The sunsets, moon rises and sunrises are stunning.
Initially the winds were quite light but we have not motored since the start of the ARC. We have continued on a southerly route and the wind really picked up as hoped for. Last night it was 15-20 kts and we hit speeds up to 11kts!
The watch rota between the 3 of us is working out well. We are having great food and sundowners before dinner at sunset! Each of us is taking turns to cook and there is undoubtedly a competition developing as to who can produce the most lavish meals! Last night Nina cooked an amazing Thai Chicken Curry!
Our position at noon was 22 40.86N, 20 48.02W.
We made good speed today heading downwind on a SW track towards the waypoint suggested by Chris Tibbs but a wind shift that pushed us more south coupled with forecasts suggesting the wind field was still favourable to our west resulted in us making the decision to gybe and head direct for St. Lucia! Our track is 265 which will put us onto a middle route. We are now on a broad reach with 15-20 kts of NE wind doing 7-9 kts. St Lucia is exactly 2,300 nm from our current position.
Andy is cooking today and made an amazing breakfast - scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, grilled tomato and garlic bread! Lunch was hot dogs with fried onions. I can’t wait for dinner!
Despite continual attempts we still haven’t landed any fish!
Luckily during my rig check today I noticed that there was a problem with the shackle that attaches the tack of the genoa to the furling drum. The cable tie used to seize this shackle had broken, the pin had fully unscrewed and was about to fall out! The tack strop was hanging on by a thread. That could have been a disaster. Fortunately, I managed to get the pin back in and screwed up tight then seized it with two larger cable ties! Thanks to Jerry the Rigger whose wise words in one of the ARC seminars have been invaluable.
Simon
IMG_1914.