Monday saw two milestones - our halfway point, and an on-board birthday! Tuesday is (so far) rather less eventful.
Monday finished with an excellent dinner of slow-cooked lamb with couscous, followed by a fascinating on-board “Ted” talk from Tash about the work she recently presented at Cop27, concerning the effect of climate change on women’s health. Somehow being out here makes one more aware of the fragility of our planet. And more aware of the planet in general - the uninterrupted horizon let’s you better imagine the sphere we are on, and how the sun, moon, stars and other planets move across the sky.
We have a little more moon each night, and for longer - great for lighting our way. And there has been a debate about whether and when to change our clocks. We will soon be 3 hours west of UT (GMT if you like), but the boat is on UT. We tend to get up when it is light, and the day follows from there - so we are doing everything later each day. Changing (all!) the clocks would make it seem more normal - but it’s a faff! The debate continues…
We are running low on many things, of course - and high on the list is patience with the rolling motion as we run downwind. Then there is fresh fruit and veg, of course - but we have the essentials - and happily the water maker is doing sterling work.
It was sobering to hear of a dismasting in the rally - and this made us sharpen up or daily inspection of the boat. Fingers-crossed, we have only had minor issues so far, which we have been able to work around. Somehow, though, we have lost two buckets over the side (sorry Greta!) - we have one left, so it is not an excuse for a dirty cockpit (yet).
The weather forecast is such that we are still heading south of the direct line to St Lucia. It would be great to feel we were heading straight to St Lucia - but we have to trust the science. Plenty of wind, though - this will be one of our better days for distance travelled.
We are well on our way!
Hugh - 29th November
We covered around 185 miles in the last 24 Hours.
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