This our penultimate blog of the crossing is, uniquely, composed as we sit together over tea in the cockpit, with light drizzle coming in over the back deck - that's not lemon drizzle! We must report a sad and emotion occasion. Today at 11am we stood, silently, while Danny said his last farewells to a favourite pair of shorts, torn right through the back after 18 days of constant wear and tear, mainly through falling A over T on the foredeck so many times. Johnny went up the mast - again - not quite so far this time, though at sparrow's and still in the dark, in a pitching sea, to re-secure the lower end of the spinnaker pole stuck up the track. The weather was dreich (that seems to be Scottish for s***ty weather, according to Danny). Another Team Laros job well done, and yes Danny was the trusty winchman again. We've learned a new dance called the pole-ka. It involves moving the pole from one side of the boat to the other on a regular basis. We have not been able to hold a steady course direct to St Lucia (which seems like the thing to do to us, this close in) because of the enormous swell hitting our stern quarters, and the wind directly down the line. It's like a rollercoaster in 4D, pitched, rocked, rolled and yawed, all in one. So we have tried one course, then another, then a variant of the first - I guess you get the picture. The trip into St Lucia is now showing one decimal place on the mileage, so we are into double digits. We are likely to come in behind Little Pea as she has kept her pace and lead, and we are just that little bit too far away from her to catch her on handicap now. It is most appropriate at this moment to say a big thank you to all those who have helped and supported us across the Atlantic. The land-based Team Laros members are split between Australia and England. Susie and Nick in Sydney have been our tacticians, watching the competition and guiding us onto the wind. Laura has been our trusty blog-master, converting our plain texts across the radio waves, to the blog for your consumption, as soon off the press as possible. All of you for the cake recipes, they have been morale boosting. And, of course, all of you who have been encouraging us on with your comments and emails. We are told we have a fan base similar to that of One Direction, that's because we are only able to go in one direction, that's 260' . We close, earlier than usual, to make the most of the transmission slots this evening. We will transmit once more tomorrow morning (hopefully), as we cross the line. You will probably see this as we do, on Yellowbrick. So, for now, after 18 days and some hours (can we scrape in under the 19 days?), TTFN. Catch us next on Facebook, after the rum punch, shower, shave, and a huge fat-boys' breakfast!
No comments:
Post a Comment