All quiet on the western front.
It certainly was very quiet here yesterday. So much so that we finally abandoned sailing and resorted to motor-sailing at 0700 today. This was a real shame as we were keen to get a result in the Racing Fleet. But, several days of very light winds meant that we were making very slow progress and we really do want to arrive before Christmas ...
We are however very pleased to have logged so much continuous spinnaker sailing: 93 hours and 437Nm; we feel this is some kind of achievement. Can anyone else beat that?
Our slow progress did allow a few high points, at one moment our speed fell to one knot so Richard & Petra enjoyed a mid-Atlantic swim. In the early dawn we had a very close encounter with some whales, who briefly surfaced to breath less than 10 metres from us. It was too dark to identify species and number but exciting nevertheless. This encounter made up for the disappointment of spotting a fin the previous afternoon which, when we got closer, turned out to be a football.
We certainly hope to see a bit more wildlife to add to our I-Spy notebook. To date we have Shearwaters, Stormy Petrels, Bosun Birds, Jellyfish and Whales but a few more entries would be welcome. What else has everyone spotted? On the bright side we are only in our sixth day, less than 700 miles, into our passage and there is still a lot of ocean to cross.
Ian Jenkinson, Celtic Star