If “frustration” epitomised yesterday’s mood then “resignation” would probably be the word for today. With boat speed of 3 to 4 knots we’ve spent the day painfully crawling towards our destination. As the sands of time fall through the hourglass the crew are starting to strike through the planned entries in their mental calendars. The chances of making the finish line in St. Lucia before it closes are now getting close to the realms of mathematical impossibility. Soon the same will be true for the flights that have been scheduled by the majority of the team. Despite allowing 26 days for a crossing that should take 16-17 it looks unlikely that we’ll make it on time. Hopes for some rest and downtime in the Caribbean are now just a memory. Current thoughts are turning to trying to estimate when people should re-schedule flights for in order to make it home or back to work as soon as possible. Disappointing as this is it’s important for the crew not to lose heart - we still have at least another whole week’s sailing ahead of us so we need to keep spirits up. The sun is shining, the views are beautiful - if a little consistent, the food is good and, of course, the company excellent.
Speaking of food, the provisioning that we did has worked really well. Our brief was to prepare for 21 days to build in contingency (ha ha!). The larder still looks reasonable but there are certain things that we’ve now exhausted or are running low on that we wished we’d packed more of, namely:
- Brown sauce
- Black pepper (with grinder)
- White sugar
- Fizzy drinks
- Biscuits
- Chocolate
There’s also a handful of things that we seem to have more of than we’d expected:
- Cup-a-soups
- Butter
- A strange, lingering, fishy aroma in the fridge
The crew have finished dinner and are having a chat about the work planned for tomorrow. There should be another good night’s sleep for everyone as the sea is like a mill pond as I write this. The perceptive amongst you will notice that “someone” is conspicuous by their absence from today’s entry. Maybe we’ll hear from them tomorrow...
Until then, missing you all,
Alex & the NoStress Crew
P.S. With respect to changing flights, Ben & Gemma - please check your emails!
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