Neverland - Neverland leg 2 - Days 15 - 16

Day 15 – 16

Not long to go now!! Thankfully we have had a steady 10 – 16 knots of wind for the last 72 hours which has meant our concerns over lack of diesel are no longer plaguing us. We’ve added our last 20 litres into the tank and Tom has estimated we have enough for 13 hours of motoring should the need arise. Looking at the forecast we don’t think we will need it but having spent the first week of the trip chasing the wind south only for it to either out run us or die as soon as we catch it, none of us are prepared to bet money on it.

Tao and Toccata, also with the ARC+ fleet showed up on our AIS this morning and we can actually see Tao. We haven’t physically seen another boat for about 2 weeks. We’re keeping a close eye on Le Soleil skippered by our friend Kristian. We have two competitions between us and Le Soleil; the biggest fish and the first over the line. The odds are in his favour. Although he has been tailing us the whole voyage he hasn’t used nearly as much diesel as we have and so if the winds tail off again he’ll be able to zoom ahead. We are hoping for a repeat of our race to the finish line in Lagos on ARC Portugal in July this year. The plus side to him arriving first is the beer I expect him to hand us as soon as we’ve secured our lines.

In other fish related news. We still haven’t caught one…just weed, but a flying fish did land in Dad’s lap last night as he sat minding his own business engrossed in the latest Jack Reacher novel on his night watch. I am delighted to say I am the only member of the Neverland crew to have not been accosted by a flying fish in the middle of the night and am hopeful it will remain that way until we arrive. Our ETA currently is 3 am on Sunday morning (7 am UK time) but we plan to slow ourselves down so we arrive at sunrise.

We are well and truly into the rations. Tinned ratatouille (which I had never bought before) has been the unexpected star of the long life rations. You can do so many things with it! I’ve added it to rice with diced chorizo to make a kind of risotto, added it to a tin of Bolognese as an alternative to fresh peppers and mushrooms and we’ve had it as an accompaniment to fresh fish. I’ll never go on a long passage without it now! Thankfully we will arrive in time to avoid having to delve into the emergency rations – fray bentos steak (pedigree chum) pie…much to Dads disappointment!