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Despite lack of wind, today was a perfect day calm seas and sunshine, and a day of lovely food, Tuna again for evening meal, with hindsight Chablis should have been purchased in the Azores. The most taxing part of the day was working out what tunes to play on the iPod.
As night fell a big red moon rose over the horizon with a fantastic starry starry night following. At 4.45am this morning Giles was perturbed by a big blob to port on the radar. Eventually it was worked out that it was Land Ahoy. We have passed a major milestone crossing the Lizard, traditionally the end of the many transAts including the Blue Riband. Whilst not in the same league we celebrated with a tot of rum on our porridge.
With winds expected later today, the forepeak head may become unusable. Greg gallantly set about unblocking the other head. He insisted it was not a job he could ask the crew to do and he was getting no arguments from us. We could hear various mutterings, and the eureka moment occurred when the blockage was found. Greg came on deck to throw the offending debris overboard, not once but twice the crew felt he was a bit cavalier in his approach, including once throwing on the windward side. As Greg descended once more unto the head, mutterings were heard among the crew, was it insanity that was grounds for the skipper to be relinquished of his post? Surely trying to cover your crew in sh*t showed he was of unsound mind? We can also reassure our readers that the other potential blockage, GB, has also recovered.....
- Fran
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As fishing operations have cease, crew boarded becomes an issue. They're even volunteering to get on with the repairs list before we hit Cowes - I think it has more to do with a concern of cutting into their beer time than really wanting to work on the boat! Liam, however, got in touch with his artistic side and built a "mini-me" version of Eclipse out of toothpicks with white duct tape for sails. The crew figures it will be easier to dock in Cowes that Eclipse - both due to the skippers recent example in Punta Delgado (fiberglass repairs to be scheduled later....) and our need to have someone (Stoker Spike) manually adjusting the transmission since the throttle lever jammed.
I must say Spike and Triple Lutz outdid themselves with yesterday's meal. The pan seared tuna was amazing! The calm weather allowed all to eat at a set table while it was my turn to drive. They then figured out how to turn the navigational screen towards the table to keep an eye on whether I was following the route correctly - all happy to provide back seat helming!
We've also had the chance to play more with the new electronic toys on board. Liam has also proven to be a serious gadget freak and set about to develop custom screen layouts for the chart plotter. The radar has proven very useful for the increased shipping and of course for spotting land...
Anyway, we are nearing the finish and have started to increase the diesel usage now that we're closing in on Cowes. We've decided to make the Royal Yacht Squadron flag staffs as our "official" finish to the Atlantic crossing and should be there sometime tomorrow afternoon!
- Greg
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