Situation - near Paradise.
Despite the light winds, we have made good progress over the last twenty four hours. Bruce's predictions - ever accurate - were for light South-Easterly to South-South-Easterly winds. So, to Graham's concern, almost as soon as he got up, the Skipper dragged the Spinnaker from its lair in the walk-through-cum-workshop-cum-sail-locker-cum-technical spares store, which lies just behind the Navigator's station. Within a trice (actually it was nearer twenty minutes - Ed), it was flying bravely with the pole to port, and our speed, which had eased progressively through the night, rose once more to a respectable level. Respectable is a relative term; aboard Cleone it means anything above six knots, which even allowing for the difference between nautical and statute miles is not much more than a respectable jogging pace. Nevertheless, if you can imagine jogging at a decent jogging pace for twenty four hours a day, you can cover quite a long distance in a couple of weeks, which is what we hope to do.
The crew and the Skipper are finding that having Mandy on board makes a huge difference to our lives. Even given the pleasant breeze and decent weather, the new watch system allows us much more time for sleep and to relax. Jenni and Shayne have a watch together, and Mandy and Graham fly solo. This leaves the Skipper free as a floater. So far he seems to have spent much of his extra time sleeping, but he does now have time to tackle some of the many jobs around the boat that need to be done but have not yet made there way onto the must be done list. To be fair, he stands a nightly watch of his own, from eleven at night till two in the morning. This enables a much better sleeping plan for all - everyone should get a clear six hour break during the night-time hours. That of course depends on the need to sort out any crises, such as gathering the spinnaker, but so far, all has been well. We hope it continues that way - Bruce is only forecasting light, fair winds so far. Getting through to our more distant friends on the radio has been difficult - propagation seems often to be poor during fine weather. With great difficulty the Skipper managed to get through to Cape Town Radio at seven am this morning, and he was very pleased to be the only one at the Noontime schedule to be able to hear Kealoha 8, some 800 miles ahead of us.
Apart from that, suntans are developing well, the St Helana Fried Chicken has lasted well but with the issue of the first tranche of the Cleone Club Sandwiches, it is now finished. Tonight we should be on to saussages and some real meat. Mandy's spinnaker trimming has stood us in good stead, and we are holding our own (on handicap at least) with some of the rest of the fleet. But who cares about all of that - the sun is shinning, the spinnaker is up and we are having some great sailing (and I've got a cold beer on the go - Ed). And for JB of Quasar; we've really appreciated the fresh lettuces, but they are all but finished!
Meanwhile, all is well with us, and very best wishes to you all.
James, Graham, Jenni, Shayne and Mandy
Yacht Cleone
15o49'S 010o18'E