Cleone - Leg 20 Day 3 - Another Day at the Office

Up early and off to work.

 

It was ten to three when Alex woke me with the customary "James, your tea's in the sink".  Getting up and dressed and off to work took all of thirty seconds (life-jacket and crocs on, scoop up mug of tea on the way past, then head up the companion-way), and I arrived at my work-station 5 seconds after that.  A quick brief  (no ships in sight, wind as it was, full sails and nothing else to report), and then I was on my own.  Getting home took Alex even less time.  Pausing to fill in the Log and brush his teeth, he was in bed and asleep within two minutes.

 

Drink tea, check the horizon and trim the sails.  Then check the weather.  The stars shine brightly above us, and the Milky Way cuts a swathe North to South, directly over us.  There is no moon, but it is bright enough to see the crests and troughs of the waves, which are further illuminated by the phosphoresence glittering in the wake.  For three hours steer the boat, breaking every hour to fill in the log - George the Autopilot deputises.  Every watch has its special moments; today's is watching the sky pale, the stars disappear and the sun rise over Cleone's stern.  Then Chris takes over and it's time for breakfast, some more kip and to get on with the rest of the day's work. 

 

In a typical day, we each steer for nearly 8 hours, we probably reef and shake out a couple of times, we clean parts of the boat, cook in strict rotation, sleep when we can and even find time to read.  The Skipper spends an hour on the radio, and another writing emails and so on, the other crew rather less.  Time passes quickly, we are never bored.  And if we think we might be, we just consider for a moment - this is the warm Indian Ocean, and not London in November!

 

Yesterday we made 150 miles (I spotted my mistake too late), today 149.  And we have less than 1000 miles to go to Richards Bay.