Rebel - NW of the Cape Verdes and a long way still to go

Tuesday  2 Dec. We have done it. No, not made it to St. Lucia, not evenmade it half way. But we've more than passed one full week at sea andstarted December. There are vague promises from the skipper that we willnot still be sailing come January. The weather has been beautiful, butthe winds have unfortunately been on the light side much of the way sofar. We're still headed SSW and won't turn west until we reach the steadytrade winds. We can tell from the positions reported by other boats thatwe're not alone out here looking for the trades.We're eating well, taking turns with the cooking duties. We are comingnear the end of our fresh items. Carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, oranges,onions and garlic are holding out quite well. And we've quite a varietyof canned items when the fresh food is. read more...

Rebel - An eventful day

4th December 0300 UTCThe days have been passing pleasantly uneventful, blissfully sunny, eachday a little warmer, no boats to be seen, wind some days and not others. Andy and I have become quite philosophical about it all as we dropsteadily to the very back of the fleet, being one of the smallest boats.Then came yesterday. More happened than in the rest of the week puttogether. I woke and poked my head out on deck at 9 to check whetherdress code for the day would be shorts and T-shirt or just shorts. Therewere three boats in sight?. A tanker steaming past on the horizon, a yachta few miles off and another under full sail rapidly catching us up. TheAfrican Queen, as it turned out to be, was a 50ft sloop with two headsails and main out, en route from Phuket in Thailand to Fort Lauderdale. read more...

Rebel - Getting there - slowly

Saturday - 13 Dec.Another beautiful day. I wonder, do the residents of Paradise (or California, southern Spain, and such sunny climes) ever get bored? We're coming up on three weeks at sea and will pass the ¾ way mark a little later today, gallantly struggling to make it to St. Lucia before the rest of the ARC fleet drinks the place dry. We know from radio communications with other boats that there was not been a lot of wind out here until the last couple days. But it has picked up, and the forecast tempts us with promises of more, if only we can get to where it is blowing. There will be many yachts arriving late in St. Lucia. We heard several talking the other day about missing an ARC dinner on the 18th. And these are boats a good deal larger than Rebel. One boat reported motoring. read more...

Rebel - The end in sight - almost

Thursday 18 Dec.Finally! No, we haven't reached St. Lucia nor do we have good wind. Overnight a flying fish landed in the cockpit and, because it is a tradition,Iain fried it up for breakfast. Very tasty indeed.It's not very much like Christmas out here. We forgot to bring a tree ordecorations. We'll be interested to see what signs there will be ofChristmas in St. Lucia. And while it will be good to get home for theholidays, there is definitely something to be said for the weather downhere.We're closing in on 200 miles to go and will reach that point in a fewhours. Not that I'm counting, but earlier today we passed 29/32nds of theway and the next big waypoint after 200 to go will be 15/16ths. Barbadosis closer still, but St. Lucia it will be for us. Yesterday we saw ourfirst frigate. read more...