Starblazer - 12/11/2016 – Positives

It’s a beautiful dawn; the sun isn’t due to rise for about 30 minutes but
the eastern sky is suffused with a golden orange light which illuminates the
gently rolling sea. Once the sun has risen the sea will appear a wonderful
Quink Ink blue. For those too young to remember Quink Ink for fountain
pens, it’s a stunning Royal Blue. Starblazer is powering along at a steady
6.6 knots with a little help from the current and we are on the final leg
with 351 nM to go to Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI. ETA Monday early evening.
The day’s run to noon Friday was 144.7nM, not stunning but acceptable.

So what is there to be displeased with? The seas are so calm because there
has been almost no wind for nearly 24 hours. Starblazer is making good
speed because the Volvo diesel engine is thundering in the background, noisy
but effective. If I praise the engine in writing will it quit breaking down
at inopportune moments in awkward places?

There are, however, more positives on our journey south. It has been
getting steadily warmer, especially during the night. We started off
needing a blanket on top of the sleeping bag, after a couple of days the
blanket was discarded. Now we are down to just the sheet bag with the
folded sleeping bag acting as an extra mattress. Clothing requirements have
also reduced: from thick socks, warm trousers, several top layers and woolly
hats at night with only the hat removed during the day to shorts and T
shirts by day, thinnish trousers and T shirt topped by a heavier weight long
sleeved sailing shirt at night.

The calm seas encouraged the cook, aka Admiral, First mate, deckhand and
scribe, to produce a dessert as well as a main! Friday night’s dinner was
Paella with turkey breast rather than chicken followed by oranges in a red
wine syrup topped with mini amaretti biscuits and a squirt of cream.

We are living well.

Joyce