May Blog
Friday 4th December
Weirdy Address
16.40.7N 46.17.62
Well my weather forecasting was right – it is rough. The boat is twisting and turning like a corkscrew. It is funny to watch the feeders try to get
their balance as they only have two feet.
I am doing well with the balance – it is simple you just lean into the
movement and stay grounded. I had a
shower today - I think I am the only one who did. Mark and Tina are disappointed that the new Water
maker that they had fitted for the ARC doesn’t work when it is rolling – which
is pretty much always! The ‘experts’
Marine Maintenance who fitted the Water maker and the Generator in Gibraltar
didn’t fit either properly so they suck up air. That’s why the Generator needed
a new black wheelie thingy fitted. Mark
and Tina are disappointed because they fitted the Water maker so that that
everyone could shower when they wanted – they like everyone to be happy and
comfortable. But it is only a few days
to go now and everyone can cope. John
has been unwell still and as a result he sleeps most of the day and night – it
is a real shame that he is missing out as the rest of us are really
appreciating every moment.
Today was the first ‘nothing’ day the feeders have had. The autopilot ‘Merlin’ was on duty all day
and now all night. So all the feeders
had to do was some cleaning and tidying, rig checks and be on watch. Nisse was bored as he likes to be busy and
fix things. They had the fishing rod out but only caught some weed. There was a lot of weed floating by and it
looked very strange in the blue, blue ocean.
The waves are incredible – about 5-6meters high and cobalt blue. If you
look at them you can see the sunlight shining right through the tops and then
the colour is pale turquoise – I am glad that Tina and Mark are telling me the
colours as dogs are colour blind. I
cannot fully appreciate it but it makes all the feeders very happy and I love
that. They have all been talking about
wanting to go for a run or a long walk – I don’t mind a short walk to the
pointy end but I think the feeders are getting restless. They are fine when it is busy on the boat but
today they have had a lot of time to think.
Magic is whooshing along and I love the sound of the water
underneath us. It bubbles and glides – whooshes
and slides. When the boat twists and
slides down a large wave we are all glad that Nisse had fitted all the door
retraints and bungees in cupboards – Nisse is very cool and knows what Magic
needs.
It is dark now and
the sky is full of stars. The air is warm and in the boat it is 31
Degrees. The 23knots of wind is at our
back and our heading of 276 is taking us straight to Saint Lucia. Tina and Mark are loving the thought of our
friends and family watching our progress and reading my blog and they like it
that we have friends around us – Eupraxia – John and Sandra Pickles – are only
a few nm behind us and Vitesse – Hakon (the Norwegians) are a few nm to our
Starboard side. I know that Vitesse
would like to beat Magic and Mark, Nisse and Simon are a bit disappointed that
we cannot optimize Magics speed but Tina doesn’t care at all about racing. The
Doyle Jennaker (dogs cant spell) does not work as well as a Spinnaker or Para
sail and the Genoa does not have a pole to keep it flying right – Tina says we
are doing well enough and that we should be happy with our progress.
The food is going really well and there are lots of stores
left which is great for me. Tonight the
feeders fed themselves home made meatballs with pesto and spicy tomatoes sauce
served on fusilli with fresh garlic bread.
They seemed very happy and I was happy as they left me one
meatball.
Life doesn’t get much better than this!
We don’t know exactly when we will get to Rodney Bay but we think it might be Tuesday which is only 4 days away.