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Well, we're making 6.7 knots in 14 knots of wind amidst large rolling swells and a beautiful cloud-free sky. 'Nigella' (Vince) has hooked up his iPod to the sound system, and we now have 60's tunes blasting out into the cockpit. Greg just mentioned he'd seen the Beach Boys in concert, and I asked if it was the first time around. The prospect of being the subject of a man-overboard drill was subsequently raised; I thought this might be a prudent time to head to the nav-station and write today's blog..
Its been 24 hours since Eclipse formally ceased fishing operations in the North Atlantic, and yet olfactory evidence of yesterdays successes linger with us. Not sure if its related, but Vince is currently airing his sleeping bag off the boom. I think Spike's trying to work out how if he can reef it...
The fridge-freezer is stocked to overflowing with innumerable tuna steaks, which means the miscellaneous canned meats ('premium' clearly has other definitions than the one we were all aware of!) left over from previous legs are being happily left in below storage. Even so, and allowing for the huge BBQ's over the weekend in Cowes Greg is planning, there is still more than we need. Its gotten to the point where we're considering using a few as treats in an attempt to train some of the multitudes of dolphins which regularly join us to do tricks for us.
We seem to be doing an excellent job of skirting the worst of the weather, a combination of our navi-guessing and the fact that Pelonium is roughly 24 hrs ahead of us on a similar course. Speaking of Pelonium, they expect to put into Falmouth at some point tomorrow morning, so as the last two boats carrying the relevant equipment, this evening's SSB radio net hookup will probably be our last. Soon, we'll be on our own for our voyage along the English Channel, and are all looking forward to the milestone of our final change of charts.
- 'GB' (Giles)
Weather conditions changed rapidly yesterday with a the wind moving from SW to West 20 -28knots in a matter of minutes. Sea state allowed some very exciting surfing and only a small amount of green water landed into the cockpit. The sky cleared and remained so for the longest day and a beautiful sunset to conclude the daylight hours. Fantastic starry night and large partial moon allowed the surfing antics to continue with 2 reefs and 50% headsail.
The morning has brought lighter winds and more ordered sea conditions, full sails for breakfast and then a change to the asymmetric means the boat speed remains in excess of 6 knots.
We are extremely thankful to the weather mongers in allowing us to navigate our way around the worst of the weather experienced by other ARC boats in the region. Its been just exciting enough to keep our Tuna sandwiches down.
New levels of bread cuisine have been reached with Nigella creating a couple of plump ones with olives and herbs, swiftly demolished by the rest of the crew at lunch in the cockpit. Piped music into the cockpit gently encourages the guys on watch to pedal harder and keep us on course for the Western Channel approaches.
The main pressure the crew are under right now are what should we call Liam 'no nick name' Weston, fisherman, cook, helmsman, fore deck ape, a many talented being with no boat name?
-Vince
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