Magic May Dog Bog
Monday 7th December
Weird Adress
15.19.08N 55.58.20
Now it is 9am and this morning’s issues are
1.
The Lewmar hatch in Tina and Marks Cabin has
been pulled off by the sheets and gone over board
2.
The auto pilot has decided to keep cutting out
so we can’t rely on it
Tina and Mark are now just
resigned to the issues and just add things to the now very long list they are
keeping.
Good thing we have only 273 miles
to go they are saying.
Today was a good day for the feeders, they had great fun
playing with ideas to make the water maker work and it did work. They had all manner of tubes and pumps and
buckets and tubs on deck. It looked
really funny but the result was that they could all had showers and that made them very happy.
They have been so inventive – Lottie made ice pops by putting fruit juice into
ice bags – they made heart shaped ice lollys which the feeders loved. They had a good day sailing and as the sun
was going down they opened a bottle of something fizzy – the brown top wet pop
really loud and scared me. They were
celebrating only 300 nm to go to Saint Lucia.
Then they had some pasta and sauce and into the watches for the night –
Lottie and Nisse are first with a 4-9 then 9-0 is Simon and John – Tina and
Mark are on from 0-3 then Lottie and Nisse again from 3-6 when Simon and John
take over 6-11 and it starts again with Tina and Mark from 11-4
Everyone says there are good and bad things about their
times. Lottie and Nisse have said that they always get rain and squalls and
Tina and Mark say they have been lucky and not had rain and high winds. Until tonight that is!
As Tina, Mark and I got up we could hear the wind picking
up. We took over the watch from Simon
and John just as the squall hit us – the rain flooded though an open hatch in a
torrent and Tina was soaked as she battled to shut it. The wind was 30knots and
there was a very black cloud right above us.
We had to alter course to deal with the strength of the wind.
Good news – we are doing 8-10 kn of speed – bad news, we are
heading for Boston!
The leech of the Main sail is trapped and they will have to
wait for the wind to ease before letting the preventer loose and playing the
mainsheet to release the sail – at least that is what I think I heard them say
– I don’t really understand when they talk ‘sailing’
We are surrounded by ARC boats, which is great – Hot Stuff –
the boat with the girl only crew passed us by – poor Simon was gutted to have
Magic passed by so easily! He is a
competitive sailor and Magic should be faster.
Tina and Mark are not bothered and just enjoy sailing safely and having
company. Hot Stuff were on a Port tack
and Magic was on a Starboard tack so they should have moved as they were pretty
close – half a mile and gaining – Simon spoke to them on the VHF and agreed
that Magic would move – what a gent! We
also have with us – Toothless, El Mundo, Tapatl, and Zheliko - I think we are all going to arrive around
the same time…well Magic will be late – It is odd as Magic is a fast boat – the
list of reasons is long – the bow thruster that was damaged as we left Las
Palmas – is it down and covered in weed?
Is there fouling on the hull? The
fact that we couldn’t pole out the Genoa? The holes in the sails …. The route
…the wind …the gods wanting us to stay with us longer??? Tina is still just happy to arrive happy and
healthy. She is a positive thinker and
even said that perhaps our role is to make all those who have passed us feel
great! (she did think that sort of comment would not please the rest of Team
Magic)
The welcome party is on the same night as the ARC+ prize
giving - Wednesday 9th and we
are hoping we will get in for that. It
will be great to see Liam and Liz from Odyssey and find out how their ARC+
adventure has been. It will be so
strange to be in a Marina again and not rolling about all the time.
Tina and Mark had fun writing a letter today and when they
read it to the crew everyone laughed a lot – the letter made everyone come
together a little and helped everyone understand the issues that Tina and Mark
have had to overcome. I am so glad that
I am a dog and all I have to worry about is looking after the feeders so the
food comes! I don’t think I would like
having to ‘deal with suppliers’ what ever that is. It seems a very troublesome pastime. And I am so happy that I don’t have to adjust
the sails and manage squalls –
I just snuggle up and stay dry. I wonder if the vet in Saint Lucia will be as
kind as the vet in Las Palmas
I wonder if Tina and
Mark have all the right papers for me…….we will soon see.
I wonder what jerk chicken is like…
I wonder when we will get there