1st December, 1999
And here is the news from the middle of the Atlantic. Since my last e-card, 
we have now been at sea for almost 14 days, sailed 1,520 miles towards Antigua
and have 1,118 to go. The only trouble is we were supposed to be nearly there by
now. Hmm. We did pass the 25% and the 50% and were going to have our next piece
of cake, smoked salmon, steak and all that but because the boat was at a
particularly silly angle at the time (which is where is has been since my last
mail) no-one really fancied the cake. As for the smoked salmon and steak, even
though we had gone through half way, it just didn’t seem right to eat it out
of a clutched bowl, in the dark, with the boat and all things in her doing a
cross between the twist, jive, polka and Johnny Rotten’s punk rock head bang.
So we've decided to wait until things become a little more civilised before
treating ourselves. We did drink the champagne though :)
The wind has been 15 to 25 knots (a good blow) either on the nose or just
south of it meaning we have had to beat and tack all the way. So we may have
travelling 1,520 miles towards Antigua but have probably sailed more like 2,000.
Honestly, tacking across the Atlantic is just not cricket! Absolutely NOT what
was in the brochure. Not a hint of a trade wind anywhere - wind, yes but the
"trade" bit has been sanctioned. We are supposed to have 25 knots wind
up the chuff all the way - plain, down hill sailing, on the level, civilised and
comfortable. Instead, we’ve been on our side slamming all the way.
Sleeping's been interesting. I'm on the top bunk .... with about five feet to
climb up into it … and to fall out of it. However, there is a clever mechanism
where you tie a piece of specially designed sail cloth up to the
"ceiling" to stop you falling out [see pic]. With the boat at an angle, the
mattress and cloth form a kind of V shape in which you bounce up and down and
sort of roll up hill to the bulk head and then crash back down again into the
cloth. You pray that your knots are good, the fastenings are fast and that the
cloth doesn't tear. All the while the boat is sending you into free-fall for a
take off and landing experience two or 
three times a minute. Eventually, you
bang your head on the ceiling, knock yourself out - hey presto - sleep!
Cooking is fun too. There you are, happily chopping things up, kind of wedged
between the
engine room door and work surface - you turn your head for second to
get something and whoomph - your veg is on the floor and your head is stuffed in
a cupboard. I have a permanent dent in the top of head where it has connected
with the extractor hood.
The loo. It’s a race to see who gets to the seat first, you or the toilet
lid, as you stand on your head trying to hang on with one hand, get your shorts
into an appropriate position, keep your feet stuck to the floor (wet and
slippery ... use your imagination). And then, when you’ve made it to the loo
seat, the lid gets you again in the back. And afterwards, you "pump and
go" like a crazed thing (loo flush is a manual affair) to make sure that
what you've done goes where you want it go to go instead of back out into your
outstretched knickers! A most entertaining experience.
It all sounds a bit trying, but as you all know me, you will know I really am
having a lovely time! This is FUN!
So now the good news is we are making a direct course to Antigua, the bad
news is the wind is less than 10 knots, bang on the nose and we are motoring.
Hence, slow boat to Antigua. Hurricane Lenny, although now 
gone, has left a
right 'ole mess of the winds that will take a while to sort out. We can’t
motor all the way because we need the juice for nav, comms, safety equipment,
water making and refrigeration (food). When we are within 500 miles or so of
Antigua then we can employ some mechanical wind and perhpas do some waterskiing
whilst we're about it. But, until then, but we have to be sensible, making
conservative and efficient use of fuel. We have loads and loads of fuel, water
and food so there is no worry there but our skipper is a good one - it would be
irresponsible to burn all our fuel now and to find ourselves with no wind, no
fuel and still 500 miles to go.
Weather forecasts are for the wind to back around to an easterly (exactly
what we want)
today but that it will be a measily force 3 for three days. Still
all weather forecasts so far have been wrong so perversely, there is some
comfort there. The GPS is predicting that we will arrive, at current progress
somewhere between the 11th and 13th December which is not very handy for my
flight leaving, as it does, on the 12th December. Will keep you posted. .
Everyone is in very good spirits in certain knowledge that we will get
there..... eventually!
Danimal
