Katy - Saturday 17/12 Day 27 - Crapped on from on high

Its certainly getting a lot livelier out here with a big swell kicking in which I'm lead to believe will only get worse tomorrow, great. We can hardly stand up as it is without being launched in to some very hard and painful innard of the boat. I actually make coffee on my knees whilst strapped in as there is no no other way.Anyway whilst having said coffee today I was delighted to spot a bird following us for some time. I don't know what they are called but they are white, torpedo shaped with a very thin tail. We've seen quite a few of them. After 10 minutes it flew purposely over to the boat and I thought maybe he'd come to say hello, sing a song but how wrong I was, he deliberately crapped on me. He then flew off back to his original course. He actually made a point of diverting to do. read more...

Katy - Friday 15/12 Day 26 - Maintenance Day

I had a full on day with maintenance today. I had to change the 5V batteryin the heads water freshener thing. I started by locating the battery and the tools for the job, a flat head screwdriver. I did this soon after breakfastand once ready it was time for the morning coffee break. When I returned tomy screwdriver and battery the battery was no longer there and had, like mycoffee mug previously, flung itself somewhere in the cabin. I found thelittle bugger in the end and got to work unscrewing the case of its onescrew. I then removed the old battery and put it on the shelf above theheads, then came another swell and it too flung itself (with the new one)across the heads. Now I didn't know which was the old and which was the new,ah its a fifty fifty choice. I put one in (the wrong one). read more...

Katy - Thursday 15/12 Day 25 - Katy's Birthday

Katy is 39 today and we've given her a good birthday wash down. We were hoping originally to arrive in St. Lucia today which would have been a great double celebration but it's not to be. I guess it's not too bad to celebrate a birthday at 12N 48W in the middle of the ocean under a warm sun.I saw 3 shooting stars last night which entitled me to 3 wishes, in turn they were a million pounds, peace & humanity and a large breasted woman. I don't want much.Our wind speed indicator has now turned in to a random number generator so impossible to get the sail trim and balance correct from one minute to the next. At least it's all from a consistent direction now.Covered 126 miles today with around 742 to go.. read more...

Katy - Tuesday 13/12 Day 23 - New Daily Best Run

We sailed 130 miles today which is the best 24 hour total so far. Katy can do more but we need different conditions. Still the weed is plaguing the fishing but it does seem to be noticeably thinner so maybe tomorrow it could be good for fishing.We're sailing past a lot of pink plastic tiaras. I can only suspect they have come from a container that has toppled off a ship and disgorged its cargo. Here's an interesting fact for you - each year around 10000 containers fall off ships in to the sea. Most are consigned to the ocean floor but a few still hang around waiting for an unsuspecting yacht to smash in to it much like the Robert Redford film 'All is Lost'.Its Katy's 39th birthday on Thursday so we're trying to think up some fun party. read more...

Katy - Monday 12th December - Day 22 - Clean Pants

I gave all my boxers a salt water clean today so we're fresh once more. The annoying thing though about a salt water clean is that they never fully dry due to the salt content. I don't want to waste the freshwater on them so I'll just put up with it. We have plenty of water still, about 165 litres so pretty sure we're good to the finish.We covered 124 miles today which gets us under the 1000 miles to go marker at 993 left. I reckon about 8 days and we should be in. Although the sea state has changed quite a bit and the wind picked up meaning we can't fly the parasailor and are now on white sails with the inevitable slowness resulting compared to the parasailor. We're under full genoa and reefed main in 18-20 knots of wind average.I lost my. read more...