Thursday 11th December 2014
It’s been (and continues to be) exhausting. God knows
how two handers or single handers do it! At the moment the heat is as sapping as
anything else. Picture frying burgers for lunch when the temperature is 33°C
below decks. Despite airing bed clothes/ sheets they still feel limp and clammy;
nice! I can understand some people back in the UK not exactly sympathising with
this viewpoint!
There is a party mood coming on with less than 100 nm to
go. It’s been a good ride, but our attention has definitely turned to arrival.
We’re preparing ourselves and the boat; form filling (Ebola, customs, sailing
injury report form and YW Atlantic gear test questionnaire), repairs and
maintenance as well as trying to stow everything back in its original place now
that we’ve used 80% of our provisioning. We’ve also fitted mosquito nets to
every opening hatch and port light.
It may be my imagination, but the boat seems a little
lighter in the water and given that we know her pretty well now, she gets on
handsomely with the task of getting us to our destination whilst we busy
ourselves. The boat has asked little of us and has performed as well if not
better than expected. Although she may have one or two shortcomings (the
heads!!) with that knowledge they are manageable.
Having condemned the fish to fishcakes and having cooked
them myself, I can openly say they were disappointingly bland and dry! They
really needed a good Mornay sauce and possibly the addition of some shallots; a
bit beyond boat cooking! When I think that boat cooking used to consist of
either Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies (in tins) or Vesta Curries, usually
followed by steamed Heinz puddings, we’re not doing too badly!
One more blog entry to go; we should arrive at Rodney
Bay, St Lucia somewhere just after midnight tonight. It’s been 33 years since I
last visited the Caribbean and I’m looking forward to making that
re-acquaintance!