Into The Mystic - Half Way

Half-full or half-empty ?

Apologies for the silence of the past couple of days.

Much has been happening here. At 2322 hours on 29th November we reached the mid-point of our crossing when the ‘miles covered’ and ‘distance to destination’ matched exactly at 1529 nautical miles. Tony was at the helm and we high-fived.

A celebratory full English Breakfast was our reward early this morning. It’s the little things in life that matter.
A beer or a glass of wine may also be imbibed later as we take a well-earned break from our Prohibition Rules.

We have encountered (relatively) strong winds and (relatively) big seas - relatively, because our friends who were off to a slower start and who have taken a more northerly route have really been pounded; they have encountered 60 knot winds and massive seas - we wish them well and trust that they stay safe.

We have had some trials and tribulations - chief amongst them the fact that we managed to get a rope wrapped around our starboard propellor as we tried to get our spinnaker down as the winds began to increase significantly. The seas have been too big to permit any of us of dive down and try to free the prop and so consequently we are without one engine and one sheet for our downwind sails which is impacting the angles we can sail and we are having to make do. It will take us longer then previously anticipated but are making good progress.

We are all well (including Hopalong Tony, seriously though, we all feel very sorry for him and he will need X-rays when we get to St Lucia), the weather is warm and sunny although it is a tad windy……

Henry’s moustache will be removed tomorrow as the month of November comes to an end - he will then have less hair on his head than his father as he shared his head before we left Las Palmas.

A number of the crew are now sleeping in the cockpit in the evenings as the cabin temperatures rise and the decibel levels as the waves crash into the hulls are astounding when below decks.

We have seen 2 other ARC boats over recent days - sadly they all seem to cave overtaking us ! Jodi usually has a quick exchange with them over the VHF radio - we wish each other safe and uneventful journeys and we offer the prospect of sharing a Rum Punch after we arrive. Nice folk, sailing folk.

It does feel that the end of this journey is now in sight - we can literally see St Lucia when we look at our position on the chart plotter and whilst it will take another week and a bit to get there we are making decent progress. We are all safe and well and that that’s the most important thing.

We continue to catch fish and at this rate we will be opening a fishmongers shop in St Lucia

Love to you all

The Mystics