ARC Day 12
Ceilidh continued her great form with a tremendous 202NM days run which equalled our best on day 1 of the ARC.
What was more remarkable this time round is that we had a F5 NE as compared to a F6-7 on day 1 so it has been a case of good helming by everyone to achieve this. It is hard to describe the concentration required on another dark night to steer on instruments with little or no horizon available. We limit each helm to 45minutes as otherwise it is too easy to lose any reference points and become disorientated allowing the track to wander. Steering an accurate course is very important now we have the finish line in site as we are tracking around 10degrees above our rhumb line of 260T.
We continue to have the swell behind the beam which at times causes Ceilidh to severely fish tail.
Our sea motion today is best described in dance terms as a “drunken Duke of Perth” delivered with much enthusiasm!
As we crossed longitude 45W yesterday we have put the ship’s clock back a further hour so we are now 3 hours behind GMT( 1 hour per 15 degrees of longitude).
Once again we are receiving lots of support and some brilliant jokes which is keeping everyone in good humour so thanks to everyone for that.
The next verse of our Christmas song is:
On the 7th day of Ceilidh’s ARC my skipper gave to me 7 trolleys of shopping.
We had a practice sing along yesterday which was great fun.
The fishing rod was deployed yesterday by Janet but no takers so far!
Dave Sturrock