Trade winds here we come! Watch out St Lucia!
After heading south we are now finally sailing in the right direction. We are racing along ... well almost.... under spinaker at 7 knots, just like a Mongoose Stalking it's Prey! Just 1700 miles seperating us from the first taste of rum!
Its absolutley stinking hot and we've just had some lunch. Denise and Frankie are on cooking duty today, the consistently creative duo rustling up truly delicious ham/cheese/tomato sarnies and naturally lashings of Helmans mayonaise. We have a fridge onboard, not very big, probably you would say a rather small fridge with a tiny freezer compartment that takes just about one tray of ice cubes. Enough for the yard-arm gin and tonic. The fridge is starting to look a bit empty but still loads of frankfurters, yogurts and salami. Eggs, potatoes, oranges, carrots and onions are stored under the floors. After the fresh items have run out we will embark on the non-fresh items such as tinned, canned, dried and condensed stuff. Mmmmmm yummy!
Andy just came down with a sorry looking fishing line, the lure is gone!!!... Well can't be helped, we can always try fishing with Frankie's wet shoes, they should by now be irresistable to most fish.
Liz is telling Lutz off again for sunbathing on the main sheet, gosh he gets a hard time! Lutz is really spectacular when it comes to the DIY on board, fixing broken kit, mending anything arwy and rewiring even the most tenacious of technical connumdrums. Liz, our inspirational skipper, charismatic captain, talismanic leader is keeping the good ship Siri Ros afloat (hope this write up gets yours truly an extra ration of mayonaise!). We are in very safe hands and in daily communication with the rest of the fleet via the often frustrating SSB radio.
The fresh water onboard is monitored each day to ensure that there will be enough for the entire journey. The water is rationed (Stevo, FYI the mayo is not being rationed yet, thank god!). We have a large capacity water tank that we use for cooking, tea, coffee, rinsing dishes after washing up in sea water, rinsing bodies after showering with the sea water. We use baby wipes for daily hygine, now we all smell like Johnson & Johnsons baby bums.
We also carry about 160 liters of bottled of still drinking water we had 250 liters when we started. There is also sparking water, juices and other marvellous beverages to keep us hydrated, highly alert and 100% focused on the highly competitive racing twenty four hours a day.
Andy has just attached a new fishing lure to his line and has managed to catch the carpet in the process. He is now desparately trying to find a way to unhook the 3 hooks from said carpet. Andy's big talk of massive tuna is getting the crew salivating for supper but collecting the goods from natures larder is proving to be more challenging than expected! All are on the edge of their seats, waiting for the inevitable shout of ...... FISH!
We have heard about the snow in the UK and Ireland, can't say that we're missing out.... sorry to rub it in.
Hello and big love to all Siri Ros followers and fans. Tune in next time for the next exciting blog, coming soon!!