We’ve managed to redeem ourselves after our first night’s disasters, last night we averaging about 7 knots boat speed and made some good head way. It was smooth sailing with no dramas! We were under sail using a cutter rig, have all the sail up proved to work well for us. We all managed to get some good rest and have now split the watches into 3 with Jason and Stu doing solo watches and I’ve buddied up with Karla. which means we are on watch for 3 hours and have 6 hours off. Anyone who knows me will know I love my sleep so this 6 hour sleep thing will take some getting use to ;)
We’ve been searching for wind and got stuck in a hole with only about 4 knots of wind. We must have been bobbing around quite noticeably as a passing cruise ship called us on the VHF to make sure we were all ok. A very friendly and concerned captain indeed :) He was chugging along at 13 knots heading for Barbados. It was very tempting to ask if we could hook on and tow behind!
As it’s so flat we’ve had brunch on board, I made scrambled eggs with avo and ham on toast. Stu made a delicious salad with Spanish tortilla for lunch… very civilised compared to our first 24hrs. And getting all our fruit and veg fix.
Later in the afternoon we found ourselves in a synoptic wasteland, chatting to another ARC sailing yacht, Ellen, it appeared they were experiencing the same so we’ve had to put the engine on to head west, where we hope to find wind! Please!
We almost had a beautiful Dorado dinner, until it flicked off the line just before we managed to get him on board. He was a so colourful flicking through the water, almost too beautiful to want to eat. Although I’m told that once you catch and kill them their laminating colour disappear and they become grey. Still no fish yet!
As the sun was gently falling down the sky Karla and I started our exercise regime up on deck, more challenging than most work outs trying to balance on a move boat. We’ve also got a TRX system on board so will be rigging that up within the next few days and get the guys involved. Here’s hoping for bronzed, toned bodies by the time we arrive in St Lucia!
Tonight looks as though we will be mostly sailing until we hit wind.