Little Island - 168 hours

Mini double decker and mini crunchie. Not a bad way to start the festive season as we identified number one on the advent calendar mum made us for the boat. I have to say, we don’t feel very christmassy but I suppose that is what you get when you are totally disconnected from the world. No carols on the radio, no decorations in windows, no lights on the street and no ‘buy-one-get-one’ offers enticing you to buy things you really don’t need; that nobody needs. It’s quite lovely.

What isn’t lovely, is blocked pipes. Before departing, a good friend told us a story about her sail from the UK to Australia. She explained that something about boat life and being constantly heeled to one side meant that her regular lavatory requirements became somewhat irregular. In fact, at one stage she went ten days without making a splash. Two days for me and alarm bells start ringing. Maybe it’s a bloke thing, maybe it’s an Evans thing, but generally my timing is more reliable than the 0815 train from Southampton to London. Since being on this trip, everything has become a little harder, if you catch my drift. So now we are on a self-prescribed dosage of prunes and apricots (thanks Alethea!) daily, hoping that we settle back into routine after being thrown off schedule by our 4 hour watch system.

What also isn’t lovely, is nappy rash. Endless sitting down in tropical conditions has taken my cheeks back to my toddler years. Cat wonders what I’m doing when she comes up to change watch and finds me on my back with hands behind my knees and legs in the air. I tell her I’ve got to get some air flow down there , otherwise we’ll have to implement a shorts ban. Given the wide number of hazards on a boat, a shorts ban would make me a little nervous. You hear of people getting fingers trapped in winches...try your scrotum. So the ‘spread em’ initiative continues to be upheld for now.

What is absolutely excellent is the progress we are making today. For sure the best sailing conditions we’ve had so far, cruising chute up and shifting along at an eye-watering 6.5 knots. We probably still have another 16 days to go, but if they’re all like this, we’ll be happy. The forecast says the wind is coming.

Last night I took particular triumph in passing a 20m sailing yacht that had overtaken us earlier in the day. I made sure I took them nice and close to make it a little more exciting, though with the whole Atlantic Ocean to use, I don’t think the person on watch was particularly impressed. I had reassured them on the radio that I’d avoid them, but then again we were probably close enough for them to hear our bow wave...

Martin