[p]pjr4728
[s]
pos: 22 01.733n 031 24.992w
sp: 5.7
h: 265m
w: 12-16 ENE, CC 2/8 SS 1.5m ENE
d: 19/12/19 12.00 GMT+0000
Progress continues (albeit fairly slowly) 'West'! Actually its more like working our way towards the WSW, as the forecast is for lighter winds on a more-direct (rhumb-line) track...We'll try to get a further 2 degrees south by 34W, as this minimises the period we're likely to be caught in the forecast (very calm) eye of a big high sitting to the N, the bottom of which we're currently using to get westward but that is set to expand on our track between Xmas and New Year.
Unfortunately we'd have to work our way down all the way to 14S to miss it completely and the extra distance and time required to do that just doesn't justify the potential increase in winds. Basically while we'd like for Santa to provide more wind on our planned track, an extra dose of patience may be more useful. A good time for this passage in a boat like ours would have been around 21 days, with 23 being more realistic. Unfortunately it looks like we're unlikely to hit land before 4 Jan now, unless the forecast changes for the better- so we're looking at about 25-26 days in total, quite a bit slower than our our average passage speed to date of 5.1kn.
On the brighter side, nothing nasty weather-wise is currently in the offing, despite the extra passage time. The drinks cupboard is still well populated and we even have turkey (ok, roll!) waiting in the freezer for Xmas - AND we should have a relatively calm day likely to enjoy it!
In fact, you may be surprised just how fast the days seem to go. The two of us (mostly) do 3 hour watches turn and turn-about, although these are flexible if the person on watch is feeling ok (and/or generous!). Every few days we might even do 6hr watches overnight if calm. So at the most that's 2 day watches and 2 night watches each a day and there is always something to watch or do that (usually) makes those 3 hours seem to pass relatively quickly.... Watching wind and waves, adjusting course or sail trim or changes to maximise speed and minimise chafe, checking forecasts, cooking, reading, trying to give Mili the attention she demands, hunting for that f**&^n annoying can knocking etc, etc, etc! We had some excitement yesterday when another sailing yacht came within 3 miles and we could chat briefly on the radio - the first sight of anyone else for 7 days! Sue also spotted a whale about 50m abeam. There's an old saying that cruising is 99% boredom and 1% terror, but neither of us seems to get at all bored. And Sue occasionally argues about the balance of that equation anyway!
To be fair, Mili does sleep quite a lot more than us, usually in her fave spot against the lee cloth (taking much of our space I should add!)...But does get very excited when its time for the flying fish hunt around the deck and always seems in a particularly playful mood after pooping! While it may seem that the opportunities for exercise for all of us are limited, you may be amazed at just how much bracing against a constantly rolling boat seems to help tensing and untensing muscles!

Anyway, onward and forward.. TTFN, S/V Windchase

PS Last few daily runs (noon-noon in nm)
6: 126.9
7: 96.7 Yes this was a VERY slow day!!!
8: 122.6
(Total 948nm, at overall av speed so far of 4.9kn :-(

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