Mary Doll - Day 4: Milky Way Kid

We started today under crystal clear starry skies, the Milky Way was visible as a great swirling cloud of every colour imaginable, although we were often much more interested in the ALDI imitation Milky Way bar and cup of tea keeping us warm on deck. Still waiting for these balmy ‘shorts and t-shirt’ evening watches to kick in as we were promised, starting to think we might have been duped… The remainder of the morning watch was spent wishing I had paid more attention in high school physics and could name even one of the constellations twinkling above us, we must remember to offer Brian Cox a berth next time…

Mary Doll was given another morning escort by a school of dolphins at 10.30, this must be prime time for a morning stroll in the world of aquatic mammals as it’s the second day on the trot we’ve seen them at this time. Stand by for further updates the rest of the week. Estimates on numbers in the school range from 50 to ‘pure dead hunners’ - I unfortunately wasn’t able to give an opinion as I was intently studying the inside of my eye lids at the time (also for the second day in a row, mornings are so overrated!).

Lunch was leftover chicken wraps and salad from last night, mercifully most of the ‘spicy batch’ must have been eaten yesterday and I could still feel the inside of my mouth after eating. Still psyching myself up for the hot chicken bhuna we’ve been promised later in the week, God help the plumbing and loo roll supplies after that meal…

There was some good sailing to be had today and as I sit writing, we’re closing in on our first full day exclusively under wind power, fingers crossed I haven’t jinxed it with 4 hours to go. The sails have been goose winged for most of the day and 15-20 knots of wind have been pushing us along at a respectable 7 knots, we reached the dizzying heights of 8.6 knots mid-afternoon which we think may be our under sail record so far. I’m hoping to get the old girl up to 20 knots before we reach St Lucia however unlikely Dad may find the prospect. Perhaps chicken bhuna day could be fertile ground for an attempt…

There’s been a lot of chatter on the VHF this evening about what weather we’re due over the next few days. If everything is to be believed I’ve brought the Scottish weather with me and we’ll have had all 4 seasons by the end of the week, it’s good to know home is never too far away!

Caroline made burgers for our evening meal, by the size of them I think she’s determined that we will see no benefit of three weeks off the booze while at sea. Full tummies and content faces all around.

We’ve changed our watch pattern slightly tonight, Letitia has drawn the short straw and is stuck with me - I’m going to have to quickly think of some better conversation topics before our shift, I’m not sure how entertaining a discussion on how best to format an excel spreadsheet to track fuel consumption, water generation/usage and battery charging time will go down with anyone that’s not quite as sad as me and Dad. At least it’ll be dark and I won’t be able to see the disbelief on Titia’s face that Dad’s obsession with excel has been passed down to me…!

Signing off for some sleep now before up at 12 for night watch - happy sailing all!

Lewis