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Hejira - Freedom of the blog



What a great day under sail, beam/broad reaching in F4/5 all day long with the sun out. Our days run of 151 miles was suppressed by the wind moderating through the night and we are now only doing 5 – 6 knots, what a calamity!

The decision taken with Cliff on AWOL to track north to find the wind is vindicated and although we know that we will inevitably hit a wind ‘hole’, their spirits have been lifted by our confirmation that we will transfer a couple of containers (with more available if required) of fuel once the wind and seas diminish.

With half distance achieved, we can review our consumption of the various essentials in the knowledge that it is only the ‘same again’ to the Azores. The diesel usage cannot be considered a ‘straight line graph’ as it is very dependent on the conditions experienced but with the first tank showing only just below full, we are well within range without needing our stock in cans and the bladder on deck.

Since our water maker has refused to make any useable contribution, we have been very frugal with our water usage. The fitting of a sea water galley tap in Antigua has been helpful as we have done all of our washing up using that. We have also cooked rice and spaghetti using sea water so no need to season. We also carry a number of large mineral water bottles for emergency drinking supplies and we have not used any of those yet. So, with only half of the first tank used, we can relax the moratorium on showers which will be a relief to one and all. Having said that, when we were crashing about in the gale, a shower was the last thing on our minds so I think we will probably wait until the wind dies away to really make the most of the luxury and indulge ourselves.

On the food front, the bread bought in Bermuda has still not grown any cultures and is still being used and although the fresh fruit and vegetables are all but gone (with the exception, thankfully of the onions and garlic) we have enough food in storage to survive beyond Christmas so we will not starve. All in all we are in good shape and despite the earlier conditions; we are thoroughly enjoying the crossing. We are pleased to be in a position to give some assistance to AWOL (who are following in our wake) and we are continually thinking of Cliff and his crew, they must be knackered – we have been on ‘auto’ for 99.9% of the passage, to be having to continually hand steer would be a nightmare – even with 3 on board.

Ollie writes:-

If you’ll forgive me for quoting myself…

Yesterday I wrote “if you don’t mind a bit of engine noise, there’s been almost nothing to complain about...”

Now imagine there’s no engine noise – that’s what today was like.

In all seriousness, I don’t think I’ve had a more enjoyable day’s sailing in my life.

We made over seven knots from dawn till dusk, and the ocean continues to roll calmly and predictably.

And just like yesterday - the suns out.

Now, there’s a maxim that’s very popular amongst w**kers in the English-speaking world; ‘Sun’s out. Guns out.’

In their patois ‘guns’ mean biceps.

But when the sun came out yesterday we adopted a literal interpretation of their saying and actually got a gun out to shoot empty cans.

Why have I brought this up again?

Well, because my account of our shooting match yesterday didn’t get past the censors!

“Oh morning Ollie. Just so you know - I made some changes to your blog entry before I sent it.”

Suitably indignant, I thought I’d blow the whistle on this shocking encroachment on freedom of speech in today’s blog.

Anyway, no shooting cans today, the conditions seemed to demand just sitting in the cockpit and quietly luxuriating.

So that’s what we did. No one read much or listened to anything.

Everyone just enjoyed the sail.

We were then treated to the skipper’s spag bol - very nice it was to.

And after dinner we had a small celebration.

Since we’ve reached the halfway point of the journey, we opened a bottle of Prosecco that had been chilling in the fridge, and sat sipping in the cockpit until sundown.

Not bad eh.

(Or perhaps we didn’t. And perhaps the spag bol was god-awful. Maybe this one’s been censored too.)



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