02/06/2011
With winds of 30-35 knots and the swell behind us it feels like were surfing all the way to Antigua now.We've made great progress in the last 24 hours. The question is will we get there on Catherines birthday after all? If we do it will probably be after the pubs are closed but the bubbly is in the chiller now for us to celebrate our arrival.We thought uncle auto was on his last legs a couple of nights ago but we found the booster setting and he's now turbo'd up and he's coping great now.Uncle auto had a break today and we hand steered for the day which was novel.The upside of the new improved turbo auto is he's working well, the down side is he uses more juice, keeps Chloe awake at night and tries to chop your hand off with the steering wheel spokes as you try to make adjustments.The next big question is whether our last gas bottle will last till Antigua or will we be on tuc biscuits and angle delight for the last day? Position: 17 14 460N 58 56 600W
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Comments [1]
My AIS alarm went off in the middle of the night letting me know that you were finally in sight of land.
And Happy Birthday, too.
02/05/2011
Blimey! It's been squall city in the Atlantic, with gusts of up to 40 knots - which is fine as it's on our bum. It's been a day of gybing - some intentional, some accidental - Chloe gets the record for the most gybes in a watch - some intentional, some accidental! And it's been raining and raining and raining. Alan, however, managed to get a shower in it so he has been eliminated from the curious smell emanating from the port side - we have tracked it down to the bilges as a result of defrosting the fridge; but it was very close to Alan's bunk, so he was a suspect for a while!! We are trying to dry out our kit so as not to have too uncomfortable a night. Alan, Mark and I are hoping for more sleep as it was 3 men on for most of last night. A beautiful full rainbow on the bow today, but no pot of gold floating at the end, which was very close to our boat. Pos'n 17.25.90N 53.54.90W
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02/04/2011
If we are going to catch another mahi mahi, why not in a 40 knot squall in the pouring rain??!! At least Chloe has something to cook tonight - fillet of mahi mahi and sushi for starters. Yum! I think we are going to be arriving on the 8th now, so I'll just have to celebrate my birthday a day late, but the winds are in the wrong direction for Antigua, so we are zig-zagging our way there, a little slowly. Pos'n 17.29.66N 52.24.37W
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02/03/2011
Well, we've had to put the bikinis away and are back to our foulies as the sky has been grey and rainy for 2 days now. Even the moon hasn't bothered to put in an appearance, only rising at 6.30am - what's the point?! The sea continues to amaze me; now it's a charcoal grey to match the sky, but when the waves break, there's an amazing turquoisey bit at the top. More birds have been putting in an appearance - where do they come from?! Chloe got a flying fish on her lap during her last watch and we continue to throw a couple off the boat every day. Hitchhikers. I'm so chuffed with the way Chloe has mucked in during this sail. Having never sailed before, she is now putting reefs in the sails with the best of us. I tell you something, I can't imagine doing this sail with just the two of us - it would be so knackering. Having two extra crew has been an absolute blessing - highly recommended!! Probably saved Mark and I from divorce just having me not being sleep deprived. So, thank you Alan and Chloe!!
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02/02/2011
I think we are all having a can-we-just-get-on-and-get-there couple of days. It's quite lumpy and, I don't know about the others, but the French boat sped past us, which made me feel peed off, even though it was about a 60 foot catamaran with shiny new sails (yes, it got that close we could see!) We've lost two lures now as we are probably going too fast to catch anything, or what we have caught has been so big it's just bitten the lure right through. So, we are on (still very delicious) vegetarian cooking. We tried to avoid being on a goosewing (very rolly point of sail) but ended up a bit too far North, so are back to goosewinging - very good for the stomach muscles. One thing keeping me amused though is that Mark has turned into an upside down head - his beard is now longer than his crew cut, which makes me giggle every time I see him!
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01/31/2011
Well, not too much to report after the excitement of the whale yesterday, although we have just had radio contact with another yacht that has just come into sight - a French yacht bound for Guadeloupe. Having not seen another yacht since the day we left, it was nice to talk, even if they didn't understand Alan, despite him adopting the louder slower voice with a French accent, that my Dad used to do when abroad! Alan would also like it to be documented that he is 4 pints up on the Backgammon. Had we not written about the whale yesterday, I would have had to report that he was 44 pints up, so I am glad that I have knocked him back down a notch or two, as he has turned out to have quite a competitive streak!! Mark is taking a little getting used to the new watch system, having woken Alan up twice when he should have woken Chloe. Or is he sabotaging Alan's attempts to take over the Backgammon crown??!!
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