It was a trying day yesterday, the swells were throwing us all about inside the boat again - quite relentless, but on the positive side, we made some good progress to the west. We now have less than 2000 miles to go to St Lucia so our first milestone has been passed. We are sufficiently south to avoid the bad weather front that exists around 25N and hopefully it will be plain sailing from here. We are steering due west which should take us straight to St Lucia. If the winds keep us going in the same direction then I will be very happy.
An interesting meal last night: We were going to have sausages, mash, cabbage and gravy. We put the sausages into the oven to cook, got everything else cooked to coincide with the sausages, mashed the potatoes, buttered the cabbage, went to get the sausages out and they were raw! An impromptu change to the menu was needed as the sausages were put into the oven again, this time with the gas on, and bubble and squeak made a fine impression on the crew.
Shoals of flying fish are present today, the first time we have seen them in numbers. We have all made an estimate of the number of fish that land on Jay Jay overnight between here and our destination.
On another topic, we have a dry boat for the crossing. We have noticed that the process of detoxification is not without its side effects. A bad taste in the mouth along with a niggling headache obviously shows that the body is cleansing itself of the noxious substances. Maybe when we get to St Lucia the appeal of a rum cocktail will have diminished somewhat ...
We have been experiencing a drain on the battery supply which appears to be the fridge. We will have to get it checked out when we reach St Lucia, but it has made me realise that I was somewhat naive with my power planning. We should have invested in some solar panels to supplement the wind generator which although it is working, is not working as well as expected because the wind is coming from behind us, and our own speed through the water reduces the effectiveness of the wind strength in turning the blades. We also may need to replace the battery bank with fresh batteries that hold their charge better. We will see.