Layla - Half Way Thoughts

Half Way Thoughts….
We made it to half way yesterday 28th November 10:02 UTC – had a cup of tea to celebrate and made sure the fizz was in the fridge for dinner time (our only alcoholic drink until St Lucia)
After a great start we have struggled a bit the last two days with wind strength, direction, sail plans and headings. Unable to launch the Gennaker because it was not furled correctly we lost some time hoisting, unfurling re-furling and stowing. This morning the big sail went up for the first time and we have been rewarded with 8kt speeds :-)

Currently we are pointing at Rodney Bay and making good progress.

Getting this far has not been without its challenges…. Our Raymarine Pilot has stopped working unannounced three times which is not ideal! Much troubleshooting and reading of logs, tracing of cables etc led us to a couple of faults. Firstly the Bus was losing power and secondly one of the places where we thought the power was being supplied turned out to be a cable taking power from the bus for the Echo Max. It should not be wired that way! Not being able to find the reason for the other missing power supply we have unplugged the Echo Max and suppled power into the bus instead. All fingers of all hands are now crossed that the issue is behind us.

Getting to the point where we could use the Gennaker took a lot of time and under engine power great teamwork to pull off and just as we were about to declare success we had a large fishing net caught in the prop and rudder. Fortunately we managed to release it but given its size and the fact it was full of fish we were unable to bring it aboard, we issued an all ships but unfortunately it is still out there waiting to snag someone else. We had all thought that any prospect of making St Lucia in good time was going to be lost so fixing it so quickly gave us much relief.

Other 21st century problems have included some repairs to the bread maker, some Delhi belly but on the plus side we have caught two fish and had three excellent meals from them. Overall we are eating very well and sail changes are getting faster and more efficient.We are having fun with lots of banter flying.

Tomorrow our loved ones fly from London Gatwick to St Lucia and we will be working to pick up some of our lost time! See you all soon.

Layla out