Atlantic Blog#8 - Monday 1st December 2014

Pinch, punch, first of the month.  Well, it's a bit of pinching oneself to realise we are one week through our ARC experience already.  We have promised ourselves we shall celebrate half way through the passage which, if winds keep up, will be on Wednesday at the 9 day point.  Not counting chickens but that puts us in St Lucia on 12th December at 18days.  We have experienced continuing strong winds today, more easterly than up to now, and have taken a more southerly route overnight tonight, to settle Laros down a little for a more comfortable night.  We have changed tack (to port) which has upset the dynamic of boat; those comfortable in their port bunks are now rolling to starboard for the first time.  Dirty clothes are lining up in droves to jump into the washing machine first thing in the morning.  The watch routine is becoming written in stone, with little nuances of timing - breakfast has now become brunch, with a competition between watches as to who can come up with the most original use of defrosted items, and then leftovers for lunch. Is it to be the pork, or beef, or chicken or lamb for supper this evening?  Big decisions. The short night watch (only doing the 12 'til 4 watch) support the long night watch (8-12, and 4-8) in the morning, making the breakfast and moving aside for the first showers.  Oh, the intimacy of a small boat on the ocean waves! Yesterday a small piece of fractured metal caused consternation, found idling on the deck as we swept the cruising chute into its bag.  Today we found its brother, as the inboard end of the spinnaker pole come down in Danny's hands.  We shall see what whipping chord and judicious placement of leather strapping can do to keep the pole in action. Rather spookily, we have achieved yet another 157 miles yesterday, right on daily average.  The chart plotter is showing 1622 miles to St Lucia (0230 on Tuesday).  Thank you for your blog comments.  We can't see them instantly here but are hoping we can get a download every now and then.