Day 11 already – we continue to make good progress with about 700 miles to
go and hope of arriving in St Lucia on Monday next (Day 15). We have been lucky
to have had fair winds and the prospect of a fast passage. So what has been the
ARC experience for us so far? A peaceful sail downwind or something more
challenging? Discussion on this during the quiet hours of the night watches
produced a fair consensus – living the watch system over an extended period of
time is a challenge. There is an ordered rhythm to life but sleep in three hour
intervals leaves you short on nights where you have stood two watches or been
called up on deck to help with a sail change. Sailing in these latitudes brings
mild conditions but also twelve hours of darkness. And somehow, more things seem
to happen at night – 01.30 today brought us our first squall (and rain!) with
all the attending organised chaos of spinnaker down, jib up and an opportunistic
gybe. Much of the day seems somehow taken up with preparing for the next night –
crew fed, kit sorted to places where it can be found in the dark, ready bags of
clean clothes repacked. So the ARC challenge seems to be one of stamina, of
keeping the rhythm going, the log turning and gradually becoming more
professional as a crew as we learn to sail through the night with the spinnaker
up and stars to help us if we are lucky or our (lagging) instruments if we are
not.
But then the trade-off: the beautiful evenings when the sun shines but is
not hot, the waves seem somehow calmer and kinder with the boat surfing away
under us. And a beautiful dawn, the stars fading, Venus shining bright and the
prospect of bed after another night mastered.
And thoughts of home – Happy Birthday, Carol! v