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Greetings from Eclipse!
"We expect light airs for a day or two more..."
So here we are in fairly rough seas, with Vince at the helm making 7.5 in 25-30 knot winds on a double-reefed main. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Wind almost died completely yesterday afternoon, which was very frustrating. Spirits were raised when Greg served up his chili surprise (the surprise resulting from the fact that the various beans we used had been stored below for quite some time, and the already ambiguous marker-pen labels had been made even more so by the several inches of water we'd earlier spent some considerable time pumping from the bilges) washed down with some delicious frozen margheritas.
There followed an in-depth discussion on the truly serious questions of life and sailing, such as whether running out of tequila is sufficient grounds for a mayday call when you're this far offshore. We arrived at a consensus that a pan-pan would be more appropriate, but then decided we should probably hold off on that until the rum's gone too.
Another overcast night, though the arrival of an unidentified commercial vessel in the distance gave us the chance to wake up 'Spike' to check the AIS. No go, even using the emergency antenna, so it looks like that's one more thing we'll have to do without until we reach Cowes. Spotted a mast on the horizon just after sunrise, which we thought might have been Pelonium, but after receiving position reports from the other yachts at 12:00, this seems unlikely.
As already hinted, the weather has changed significantly since this time yesterday. We're being a little less adventurous when it comes to menu choice in the galley, and a trip to the head currently requires more arms than evolution has provisioned for. We've furled in the genoa to 85%, and reefed the main twice (Vince and Liam playing Spiderman off the port side in both instances). Wind may increase again this evening, so its looking to be an exciting night!
-'GB' (Giles)
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