Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day 14: Thanks a bunch, PredictWind

This passage has given us a bit of everything. Well, everything except the damn Trade Winds. They’d have been nice. Even for a day or two. Still, we live in hope. There’s a long way to go.

Today, even PredictWind gave up on us. I downloaded a weather route, only to be greeted with the message: “Route failed (too shallow or too much wind)”. Very helpful, especially as neither is remotely true. It was the digital equivalent of “Where’d you want to go, mate? Ooh, I wouldn’t start from here…” Thanks a bunch, PredictWind.

We’ve been making our ‘total miles sailed’ guesses for when (if?) we ever get to Rodney Bay. The prize is getting the first night’s dinner for free, and estimates are around the 3,200-mile range. So, an extra 500 miles over the direct route. Nice. And, frankly, we may be being optimistic. At least we’re getting value for money on our ARC entry fee. Every cloud…

Talking of clouds, we found ourselves in the middle of a spectacular lightning storm last night, with forks coming down and landing in the sea all around us. One of our crew members has previously been struck by lightning while helming (maybe wear shoes next time, Jac?), so she was banished down below in case the weather gods tried to finish the job they’d started. It seemed to work. We made it through the storm unscathed, in any event.

In perhaps related news, it turns out that Jac hasn’t been rained on once on watch yet, despite the rest of us getting drenched on a depressingly regular basis. Not sure what to make of that, except perhaps to change the watch system to ensure she’s always on with me.

Yesterday was Halfway Day. Yes, Day 13 was Halfway Day. Unbelievable. Hopefully the second half will be shorter than the first. Still, we celebrated the momentous occasion with homemade cinnamon rolls and Prosecco at our daily Happy Hour. Bougie, or what? It took our minds off our dwindling supply of meat and fresh produce. It’s lasted surprisingly well, but we’re facing a future of pasta and bean stews. Incentive enough to raise the spinnaker, whatever the conditions.

Still, all this bobbing about slowly westwards has given us loads of time to read and catch up on our Netflix. We’ll be proper cultured by the time we get to land. On the other hand, I could have done without the extensive education in country music I’ve been subjected to so far. Thanks, Blair. I wouldn’t mind, but he’s from Canada, so doesn’t really have an excuse.

But, despite the conditions and our tortuously slow progress, crew morale remains remarkably high. Clare may have commented “If I wanted unending greyness, I could have stayed at home”, but she hasn’t got off. And neither have any of the others.

That has to count for something, right?

Terry and the crew of Rhapsody