Great Escape of Southampton - Day 4

A good 24 hours aboard Great Escape. The log shows that we have made 135NM,  noon to noon – and mostly in the right direction.

Last night we had mostly light winds from the SE and we made decent progress to the S. Weather was beautiful with bright stars and a late moon. Highlight was a visit from a whale which surfaced about 20 feet from our starboard quarter. We think it was a pilot whale.

In the morning the wind veered S and we took down the #3 (smaller) jib and replaced it with the #2 (bigger) jib. Have been having a fantastic sail all day to the W. Pippa claims top speed of the day of 9.3 kts, but even us lesser helmspeople have kept the boat moving at a steady 7+ kts all morning.

Yesterday Jan was all talk about his fishing prowess, but at lunchtime he delivered as we hooked – and landed – our first fish, a gold and turquoise dolphin fish/dorado. So the menu for dinner has been changed from cottage pie to fresh fish. Life could be worse.

Tomorrow the forecast is for uncooperative winds and possible rain, but meanwhile Great Escape continues to make way while the sun shines – towards St Lucia.

Peter

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