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Gauntlet of Tamar - Gauntlet - Day 16 and 350 miles to go



After so many days and miles 350 does not sound like a great deal but there is still some way to go. The recent sailing has been fantastic with good wind and beautiful weather, although last night the combination of large swell and gusts of up to 27 knots placed extra demands on the weary night watchmen, who navigated their course with aplomb. Stef took the speed record for the night, surfing down a perfectly timed breaking wave at a face-melting 13 knots.

It's becoming hard not to think about the arrival in St Lucia. The delicious (and near infinite) supply of cold beer, rum punch, cigarettes (only of interest for a few of us)and of course meals that do not slide off your lap if you don't hold them fast.

There are increasing reminders now that land is not as far away. More boats have crossed our radar in the past 24 hours; Arc yachts, non-Arc yachts and the odd tanker to keep us on our toes. The ever increasing density of Sargaso sea weed is a fairly frustrating reminder as well, getting caught on our rudder, demanding even more skillful steering of the helmsmen and making fishing an impossibility, unless dehydrated weed is your tipple. We have even had a few butterflies flutter by our deck - how exactly they have got so far offshore is beyond us (don't they have a short life span?) but we greatly enjoy all the animal life we see and they are no exception.

Provisions are also starting to run a bit lower which has led to some creative cooking including delicious veggie patties from Stef, Boston beans from Nick and the unconventional, though highly popular snack, Nutella and bread sticks (which we have affectionately dubbed Poo-on-a-Stick).

Varied daily tasks and challenges occur and our solved with the team pulling together. Skipper shows great patience with us as we assist him with the continual work of keeping the boat ship-shape and running smoothly. Rig checks continue to be a key aspect of daily maintenance in trying to ensure we cruise rather than limp over the line. Though less critical, my personal challenge of the day has involved a deep clean of the fridge after a rogue carton of UHT took last night's swell as an excuse to cover every item within it's range. In turn inspiring a new rule upon Gauntlet - no unsealed food stuffs in the fridge (Tom...)

But I hope none of this sounds like a complaint. The situation and daily endeavors retain the wonder that can only be experienced in a place like this and we are determined to end this voyage in good spirits just as we started.

Anyway, with tonight seeing the absolutely last bit of booze aboard being consumed (there was never much to begin with), another magical sun set and the water around us getting warmer by the day, you might forgive us for dreaming of a cocktail in Rodney Bay by the end of the week. Mine's a Negroni!

Gauntlet out!



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