Elizabeth was compaining that she was not familiar with reefing and gybing Cleone; she is now!
Yesterday's run was nothing but hard work, even given that we are in the Caribbean. Although the forecast gave no sign of it, we were beset by squalls followed by periods of lighter wind all day. There was intermittent rain, and never did the wind stay in a constant direction for more than a few minutes. Reef in, reef out, gybe onto port tack, gybe back to starboard we hardly had time to slip out for a quick lunch-time pint. However, during a short break, it was down to the Peat Spade (for a change) where the smoked salmon and cream cheese on brown bread made a fantastic lunch, together with a few pints of Tetleys (I wish, though the bit about the smoked salmon is true, Ed). But as a reward, at sunset - spectacular as usual - the weather cleared, and we had a fantastic night's sail, with constant wind, no rain, stars, bright moonlight, and to cap it all, the company of IDEAL, one of our fellow World ARC yachts. She'd been delayed at the start with steering problems, and has worked hard to catch us up. But during the night she stole serenely ahead of us, and although we are still in VHF contact, soon she will be gone...
The only other excitement until the am briefing (more of that anon) was two cargo vessels, one of which obligingly altered course to pass behind us once I had alerted her to the fact that we were in her path. Although heading directly towards us, there was a huge supertanker just beyond us, so I guess (charitably) that our little blip on their radar screen may have been obscured by the enormous one of the tanker beyond! Electronics are no substitute for a good look-out and a radio (and a powerful torch).
The morning brief was contained the sad news of a yacht sinking off Curacao, and being assisted by 3 WARC yachts. So far, only one out of a crew reportedly four strong has been recovered, and we await further news. It is no comfort that the yacht was not one of ours, but it is to know that on World ARC, willing and competent assistance is not far away.
The radio sched went well, and we are able to keep in touch with most of the fleet. And although not duty controllers, we were even able to do our bit by keeping our mates on board Quasar in touch - they were unavoidably delayed by the need for another night in Spinnakers before setting out on their "dry" trip to Panama. (Ed: This is quite wrong. You know perfectly well they had an autopilot problem. Don't do this sort of thing again.)
To end on a happier note, Norfy is doing his accounts (with steam coming out of his ears), Elizabeth is confidently handling Cleone in difficult following seas with goose-winged main and genoa. And everyone except me is looking forward to a James special for supper.........
Very best wishes to all our readers. It's tough out here (sunburn is a real threat), but someone has got to do it.
James, Chris and Elizabeth
Yacht CLEONE
13.24N 68.12W