Hummingbird - Half way party

We’re over halfway across the Atlantic! St Lucia is now closer than Cape Verde, less than 1000nm to go! The atmosphere on board Hummingbird is normally a solid mix of cockpit dancing/ evening socials/ night watch giggles anyway, but with this official crossing of the mid-Atlantic ridge being kind of a big deal we’ve upped our game to a grand two-day celebration.

Much of our great progress so far has been down to our lightweight spinnaker, which manages to keep us sailing at the 6 knot mark even in breezes as slight as 8 knots true. A total life saver. We’ve had perhaps an average wind speed of 7 – 13 knots from the NE – ENE this whole passage so far, with the occasional sprinkle of a very light and fluffy 6 knots or less. For over a week we’ve pressed on without resorting to the engine as many other boats in the fleet seem to have, and have simply had to come up on the wind to build the apparent when times got really windless. Sadly yesterday we admitted defeat – the only way to build any apparent wind would be to sail due north, and even then we could have swum faster. Down came the spinnaker, out came the willing woolers Ladies of the Kite, and on went the 130hp donkey.

Although not ideal, this did present us with two great opportunities: 1) to do a rig check. I donned my harness and helmet and let everyone else suffer the hard work of lugging me up to the top of the mast, whilst clinging on like a possessive koala as Hbird rocked and rolled on the swell. (At-sea mast climbing top tip: wear long trousers!) Fresh bulb in the tricolour and all halyards checked for chafe, I flew back down to deck level like Tinkerbell to find lots of scantily-clad sailors wearing goggles and swimming caps….

….ready for 2) a swim! DJ John was the first to dive-bomb into the royal blue water, and everyone else quickly followed suit. Gina showed off balletic dives to rival Tom Daley, and although hesitant at first Nicky jumped in too! It is very weird to think that you’re swimming in the literal middle of nowhere, no land around for a thousand miles, and the sea bed is over 5000 metres below you… cue thoughts of the kraken rising from the deep to nibble our armbands. What an amazing experience for all – and such refreshing respite from the on deck sauna.

Optimistic, shortly after our ocean swim we returned the kite to its usual spot up the rig. We let it flap around for a while before admitting that it’s no use to us ripped to shreds during a night-time wrap, so we pulled it down once more and carried on motoring. Which meant another swim was on the cards after noon sights, lunch, and an excellent lemon drizzle cake by Fraser. It was a bit swellier this time, but equally as revitalising. And still no sign of sharks… Meanwhile more and more people are being ‘killed off’ each day as ship’s cluedo progresses. Jen got Nicky with a butternut squash at the helm, Michelle got Rachael with a winch handle at the nav station, Fraser got Tony with a sextant in the galley. And rather suspiciously, Chris (Captain Merpass) keeps wandering around with a very large fender….

This afternoon was the big event: our mid-Atlantic party! We donned the jazzy knickers DJ John had bought us all especially (yes, really) and kicked off with a pub quiz – do you know what a bumpkin is?! Or how many counties are in Ulcester? Me neither. Gina the Genius totally overshadowed us all and took 1st place with ease, fully aware that there are two violins in a string quartet! Then as the sun set the sky into flames of pink and orange underneath the spinnaker, the real party began. Unfortunately there now exists in this world a video of Fraser, clad in red briefs around his forehead, stoically steering whilst five others of us also wearing brightly coloured lingerie on top of our normal clothes - skipper and first mate included - perform a freestyled strictly come dancing quality synchronised routine around him: think enthusiastic 70s disco. No doubt it’ll be on facebook as soon as signal hits….

In the words of Tony, “Peace out.”
Holly