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At sea, 18th September, 2000
Hi there Dad!
Greetings from mid-Atlantic! Hope you had a good day last Sunday, ours was a terrific one. What were your impressions of your
day on the spectators ferry in the seething Solent? It would have been nice to have crossed the line first but we wanted to show you our spinnaker for longer, What a beauty,
eh?
As you will have seen, our position at time of polling seems to go up and down a bit. However, if our strategy pays off, we
should keep the wind longer by sailing farther north, so we are hoping to hear that the others run out of wind fairly soon. They are in a high pressure area (= less wind) while we are just staying north of it, so
fingers crossed that it pays off!
We have now been at sea for just over a week and I now know what it is like to wear a t-shirt for seven days consecutively......not too bad actually!
The weather has been changeable, yesterday we had strong, cold winds and heavy swells, yet today we have flat seas and sunshine and the spinnaker is flying as I write. It's good to get sunshine, I have been soaked on
the foredeck often enough so perhaps it's time to try out the drysuit. Life at 35 degrees (incline, not temperature) is not easy as you know.
Below decks, standing and walking normally
is impossible while sliding and bumping into things is easy. Bruising is a natural part of the environment. On deck, slipping, tripping, falling and being on all fours come naturally too. Just the other day I fell
backwards across the foredeck hatch when an irregular wave took us by surprise. Thank goodness for harness lines!
We know where the other yachts are but haven't seen any for days
now. If you have been tracking our progress via www.btchallenge.com
you'll have a better idea of the yachts track through the water. Wow!!! Terrific noise from the galley as we discover that we are now in third place and only six miles behind number 2, Spirit of Hong Kong and 22 miles behind the leader LG Flatron. Loud cheers and cries of 'Faster, faster!' fill the air. What fun!
Morale is great. Skipper is on top form, brilliant!!!!! Back to signs of life, there have been no other vessels sighted at all, all we have seen have been birds and schools of leaping
dolphins.
It's early afternoon, the sun is shining, all's well with the world and as I'm off watch, I'm off to my bunk now for some well-earned Zzs....
Love
Jan............... 50 31 N, 31 24 W
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