Lancelot II calling world, Lancelot II calling world, over. Today will
mostly be sailing, sunbathing and salty showers.
As we continue on our journey we have shared many special moments together,
from dolphin spotting, to Matt playing his guitar and singing us travelling
songs under starry skies, Annette’s beautiful choral voice drifting across the
ocean as well as many shared stories of journeys past and adventures to come. We
talk of our families and our lives back home, what we’ll do when we reach St
Lucia (cold beer or cocktail to start, or both?), who we’ll eat first if we run
out of food (Sorry, I think I’m a gonna!) and films we’ve seen, but mostly we
talk about food. In a terrible provisioning oversight we have no cake (Arghh!)
but we do have our own body weight in cheese to munch through. We have enjoyed
many cheese themed meals not least of Terisa’s chilli last night which was a
special meal in more than ways than one. It of course marked Matt’s birthday but
also we have now passed the half way point in distance in our voyage (Yay!) We
celebrated both with a glass of champagne. Terisa also lovingly crafted a
birthday “cake” from Mars Bars in the shape of a flying fish and we sang to the
birthday boy followed by some rocking tunes from Rob’s Ipod played through a
speaker as we all sat and ate together.
The days are starting to blur in to each other, especially now we have
started to change our watches as we cross time zones. The boat remains on boat
time, but no fear we have an ancient maritime way of keeping track – Ah,
tracking the sun and measuring the angle of the stars I hear you say? No –
Advent calendar! We have had a train, a star, a present and a four leaf clover
so far.
The weather is hot, hot, hot and the wind is building slightly behind us,
pushing us on. We get the odd wave to surf down and hope for more. We
occasionally have to gybe to keep on course and newly christened “Gary” (Gary
Linniker – Spinnaker) has been up and down more than a penalty seeking
Premiership football player as we try to make the most of any wind we have. At
least we are getting proficient in which ropes to pull and when! As far as
position goes, don’t panic, there are several ways to measure race position and
in this game of tactics and weather prediction it will all play out in the end
and rest assured we are on it! We are averaging 6-7 knots boat speed and
have complete confidence in Jacko’s mastery of the weather gribs.
Sidney Squidlington, our luminous green squid lure has been retired after
failing to catch us any fish. We did have one bite, a Dorado, which Steve swears
was a mutant monster of a fish, but we will never know as it was the one that
got away. He has been replaced by a more delicate pink and purple version
(Squid, not Steve) which will hopefully bring us some luck.
The deck navigation instruments at the stern of the boat are now working
after some electronic tinkering from Jacko and Steve but the water maker is
proving more problematic. We have plenty of fresh drinking water in the tank and
bottles but are being careful how we use it. Sea water is used for washing up,
cooking and washing clothes and of course showers. If we weren’t salty sea dogs
before, we certainly are now.
Sometimes we sit in companionable silence as we take in the awesomeness of
our surroundings. No two waves are the same and we often lie back to watch
hundreds of shooting stars and the satellites track across the clear night
skies. We have a bank of wishes stored up, so if you need one please take one
from Lancelot II as for the moment we have all we could possibly need in
life.
Miss you guys, Mel and the crew of Lancelot II
P.S Please tell LISS1 – no sharks yet but plenty of dolphins and flying
fish and Pathway – Bob Marley is on baby!