Challenger 4 - Challenger 4 Day Eleven

We’re moving again! And in the right direction….

Today has been mostly about wind and food…lots of food!!

Bruce has been showing off his cooking skills with cake overload today. After another stunning sun-rise, everyone woke up to the delicious smells of lemon drizzle cake wafting through the cabins. We then set about making toasted baguettes for lunch with a homemade potato salad and coleslaw. Dinner was a chorizo and butterbean stew with freshly baked bread and then Bruce again cooked up a storm with stewed apples and sponge for dessert. (He’s promised to keep it up when he gets home!!

Above decks the wind has been growing steadily all day, we have changed sails and Amelia has trimmed and trimmed again…and again. Folding away the genoa was a whole team effort and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing we finally got it flaked and stored away.

We are now storming in the right direction at a reasonable speed of 7 knots… much better than the 2-3 we were doing yesterday.

The fishermen are still trying to lure in a catch, we think we are in an area with the wrong type of fish!! The day was finished off with another great sun-set. Yesterday we had fabulous oranges and reds lighting up clouds and today the big ball of sun just slowly sank past an un-interrupted horizon. Truly wonderful and just as the brochure promised. At last.

Better sign-off quickly. We’re just hearing rumours of a sail change. Time to get the head down and pretend to be asleep – one of the privileges of being a mother for the day. Hopefully we have ratcheted up the bar on the grub front so looking forward to tomorrow’s culinary delights. And some sunshine sailing.

With just a week to go we are keeping spirits high, even the smallest things are becoming more amusing…maybe the madness is starting to set in.

Mother-watch signing off and ready for bed,

Hayley, Bruce and Alan