Spirit - Final days of the crossing

The past few days have seen a mixture of heavy squalls and beautiful sunshine with everyone on deck reading, lazing in a hammock, practising with sextant (James!) or fishing! Stewart has been very active and the competition between Alan and James for the best lure is hotting up! Alan landed the largest fish so far with James' most productive lure. It was gutted and filleted by Dave, battered by Jenny and eaten by everyone within a few hours. Sighted another yacht nearby and chatted with skipper of Reboot on his way to St Maarten with 3 female crew members. It has been amazing how few vessels we have seen on this crossing. Maintaining average speed of 10 KN. Flew spinnaker for a couple of days until both spinnaker poles broke in a heavy squall while double poling.

Ceremonial cutting of ham resplendent in a new ham holder. Thinly sliced with melon - yum. Getting used to the watch routine though still difficult being awoken from a deep sleep at 4am for the next shift. Apart from rainy nights it is magical sailing by the moonlight and stars, flying fish our only visible companions in the sea. Spectacular sunrises herald a sunny day and Jenny sets about baking bread and muffins. These are skills she has developed on the voyage, normally used to walking around the corner to Waitrose for such goodies. Thank you Sheena for the soda bread recipe which has been a great success. St Lucia only a day away. Thoughts turning to hot showers, cold beers and a full night's sleep!


Jenny