This past week at sea has been notable, as on the 20th of January, we celebrated leaving Antigua, twelve months previously, after spending an extra two weeks there having emergency rigging repairs. Additionally, to date, we have sailed 21,873 nm on this rally.
It has been a week of brisk and light winds - we have maintained the twin headsails but progress has ranged from healthy to slow. Despite this, we are enjoying the sailing and haven’t needed to use the engine since leaving Cape Town.
The Southern Atlantic is very similar to the North - devoid of sea life. After being spoilt in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, this is sadly noticeable.
We passed the “Meridian of Greenwich” at 20.53 hours on the 21st of January - we crossed over from the east to the west. Ship’s clock is maintained on UT (Universal Time, used to be called Greenwich Mean Time) and we are presently one hour behind UT (UT-1) following the setting sun. The sunsets have been spectacular which hasn’t been the case in general throughout this rally and Debbie witnessed the green flash last evening or rather a lime green glow for a second. Stephen is blue/green colour blind so poor devil couldn’t make it out!
Midnight on the 24th of January we reached halfway between Cape Town and Salvador, the miles are ticking off.
It was great to hear from some of our family and friends regarding their news. The one email that Debbie didn’t want to read was notification of a speeding fine whilst driving in La Reunion. The fine of 45€ will be paid by internet in Brazil as she doesn’t fancy a jail term in Guadeloupe, our next French port of call!
We sailed for days without seeing another vessel and the excitement of a blip on our radar screen and then, “Bow Clipper” (a monster) passing within 2.5nm of Amelie, was fantastic - didn’t feel quite so alone out here.
As of Monday, severe cigar rationing came into force. For Debbie, the dreaded pipe has resurfaced to feed Stephen’s tobacco habit and this results in yet more mess in the cockpit.
Sleep management is more difficult for Debbie than Stephen. He can lay his head down and grab a couple of hours during the day whilst Debbie finds it harder to sleep in the daylight hours. Surprising as she didn’t have any trouble sleeping during the day when she was a nurse on night duty.
The culinary experiences continue on a voyage of exploration with Stephen’s “Potato Boulangere, as an example. Fresh supplies are dwindling, however, buying fresh from the “Food Lover’s Market” has proved to be a success. After two weeks we still have healthy looking specimens (apart from Stephen) so we haven’t resorted to the tinned supplies yet. A great find in Cape Town was a traditional, woven herb container which allows fresh herbs to breathe and dry naturally. Also looks great in the galley.
Amelie having skipped St. Helena has now joined with the other boats heading for Salvador. Sulana and Duchess leading the way and following behind, Crazy Daisy, Pearl of Persia and Babe. Serendipity heading for Ascension Island first. The party in Brazil beckons us.
We enjoy watching films, sometimes cuddled up in the afternoon together sometimes alone during our watches. We transferred all our films and TV series from DVDs onto a hard drive for this purpose. Stephen spent a few afternoons transferring the six series of “Sex and the City” onto Debbie’s new iPad. On Debbie’s first night watch armed with all this entertainment she was disappointed to learn that her French was not quite up to what was going on! Now redone in English after the computer tried to dub it in German first.
Writing this with the aroma of pork chops grilling with the promise of a sundowner whilst watching, hopefully another wonderful sunset.....and, of course, lastly, a piece of shortbread.
All being well for the next log we should be pretty much in Salvador, heres to happy sailing continuing.