22 March 2010
All day yesterday we waited for the breeze to fill in. It never materialised. By early evening trade wind clouds formed a low fringe just above the horizon.We were rewarded with the finest sunset yet. Not quite the green flash but almost. The sky was tinged with green for up to 30 seconds after it dipped below the horizon. It is so utterly peaceful out here David and I could quite happily stay out here for another week. We still have good supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables and meat in the freezer. The problem is that more time at sea, less time exploring the island group. From today's radio net it is apparent we were not the only ones to motor through the night. It depends what your priorities are. For some it is all about winning this leg. Our goal is very definitely to reach land no later than the 25th. Having now travelled over 2500nm to get here we must make the most of every day to enjoy and explore these spectacular islands. We are back in touch with Lady Ev once more having last seen them drawing ahead several days ago. They go faster in the lighter winds. Voyageur needs at least 15knots to move her generous bulk. But it is interesting to note that while many of the other yachts in the fleet jibe back and forth, we can stick fairly close to the rhumb line on a dead run, the great advantage of the unique Amel downwind system.
Radio Ga Ga
Still yesterday two boats, blissfully unaware of their misdemeanour, are chatting on 4Bravo, the call up channel, blocking it for others to hail another boat. They either do not read or do not listen or both. It quite clearly states in the written SSB radio net procedure to move to a chat frequency, and spelled out at the skippers' briefings. We have come up with our own solution. We communicate with Skylark at a prearranged time out with the radio net. I suspect others are doing the same. Each night we have an emergency listening watch at 9pm. As often as not there is no announcement made which makes me wonder how many people are actually tuning in. We ourselves have on occasion been guilty of forgetting. On our last round the world the listening watch was TWO hourly. This was easy to remember for we timed it with writing up the ship's log. It is a long time to wait for help so it is all the more important that we do indeed "listen".....
Susan Mackay