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knot winds, and it was late coming but it did arrive and we are getting
the odd big wave which picks us up and turns us around. Our speed has
ranged between 5.5 and 6.5. Currently we have 19 knots of wind and we
are doing 6.3 knots.
We started out with a fair few yachts around us but gradually they have
dropped off the radar and AIS. I think they probably turn off their AIS
and we have the radar set at 6 miles and yesterday we could see the
yacht Deep Blue but not today. Starlet is now around a mile away from us
which is a good distance.
So far the waves and swell hadn’t been too bad and I had opened the
windows on our port side in the bedroom as it gets quite warm as its
right next to the engine room. In the middle of the night as the waves
and swell got bigger, the boat got picked up on a wave and rolled over
and water came in the windows. I jumped up to shut them, and Robbie
thought I was panicking and pulled me back down! No I said there’s water
coming in, and he had ear plugs in and couldn’t hear me, so we were
struggling, me trying to get up and he’s trying to pull me back down! It
wasn’t too bad my clothes sitting on the shelf got wet, and when Robbie
eventually got the gist of what was happening he grabbed a towel.
I woke up at 10am this morning after not sleeping before my watch from
3am to 6am, to the sound of the SSB radio. It’s a very loud
transmission, with more interference than the VHF. There is a radio net
going with the yachties and we have joined in with them. They are all
very happy to get a bit more wind, and we of course, wish for less wind.
Heidi and I decided to make some onion bread in the bread maker for our
ham and salad sandwiches for lunch, but once we got the mixture in there
we read it will take 5 hours! Shisen Housen! Skipper and crew 5 hours
will not wait, perhaps they better get out the rod and bait! No problem
we will just take some bread rolls out of the freezer.
Heidi is making stuffed capsicums for dinner tonight with beef, and
onions. We are constantly trying to find the items that are rolling
around in the cupboards and making a noise when the swell is bad. During
my watch last night I cleaned out the wet locker, the small cupboard on
the stairs down to the kitchen and the pantry cupboard. That sorted out
a few!
We’re trying to think of various sites for our daily photo, I thought
the engine room would be good but it’s too rough so today it will be the
bed at the back of the pilothouse.
We had to change our at sea email address and satellite phone software
just before we left Cape Verde. This was due to Ocens changing software
providers, not exactly the sort of job you want to be trying to complete
just before departing on an ocean crossing! Peter to the rescue!
Thankfully we have our own IT expert on-board and it’s great. Robbie can
usually do this stuff but it takes a lot longer. Peter is very clever at
this stuff and has a lot more patience than us. Our new at sea email
address is southernstar47@ocens.com, it’s only a minor change it used to
be ocens .net.
We are having a bet with Starlet’s crew as to our arrival day and local
time in Barbados, first boat to drop anchor or a rope on the dock.
Robbie 30th 9pm, Jo Jan 30th 4.30pm, Peter 31st 10am, Heidi 30th 7pm,
Mark 30th 11am, Jennifer 30th 10am, Mike 30th 5.00pm. There were various
prizes bandied around but the outcome is the winner doesn’t pay for
drinks on the first day.
We are planning to stop and have a swim in the Atlantic around half way,
conditions permitting, it will be either be a long one or a short one
depending how the arrival time is looking and who is skipper at the time!!!
Have to run its time to put our stuffed capsicums in the oven!
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