14deg 28'.55N 51deg 23'.12W

It´s 0530 on Monday morning with a slight drizzle outside after what has been a most comfortable night of watches. It has only rained on my shift for some reason....

The last couple of days we have seen the Atlantic in good form with Saturday night being a night of true tropical squall and high seas - reliable estimates of the wave size were 5-6m, unreliable one out them at 30m plus and winds were gusting up to 40knots - so gale force. Karen decided that she really didn´t like this part of the sailing where I have been a bit more philosophical thinking if you are going to cross the Atlantic, this is all part of the experience. On my shift, I had the genoa rigged so I could fly or reduce it with the squalls, where Bernie and Karen were happy with just the main. Karen, just waiting to be swept overboard by one of the waves that did manage to climb into the cockpit (just) without invitation. Given the height of the boat and the position of the cockpit relative to the dinghy and transom, a wave reaching here is significant as was the one that made it over the bimini to spray Bernie on the coach roof sunbaking.

We have managed to average over 6 knots for the trip to date (148 miles per day) and with the additional miles due to wind direction and getting the L plates off, we should hit Barbados about lunch time on Thursday. This is a pretty good time for us as we have not yet got the C Cup (gennakker) out of its bra bag yet and have only been sailing on the standard sails (main and B Cup or main only) for the entire trip. In the first couple of days we could have benefited from the C Cup but the flu got in our way. With the wind dropping to force 5 over the next couple of days we will probably slow to about 5.5 knots, but still make it in time for sundowners on Thursday.

The fresh food is holding out well with vegies getting us until tonight before we run out of everything fresh except potatoes which we seem to have an abundance of. Last night, with my Chicken Melbourne (Garlic chicken wrapped in bacon, cheese and pastry) was served with milk baked potatoes and canned peas - the first non-fresh vegetables served on the crossing.

We have only had the fishing lines out once since the trauma of catching and killing the mahi mahi earlier in the passage, but as Karen was actively involved in checking the lines (and I have photos of the vegetarian involvement) I am sure they will go out again tomorrow and this time the Moroccan whiskey is at the ready to make the process more humane. I am not sure that we will catch anything else but my mouth is watering just thinking about the last meal of fresh fish cooked in a white wine sauce.

Karen and I have decided that we will probably (as in this life there are no definitive plans) stay in Barbados for a month. This will give me an excellent chance to sample each and every rum shop and to get the boat properly prepared for life on the pick. Yes we will be going primitive for a lot of the time in the Caribbean staying at anchor when ever possible. To do this effectively I need to sort out the energy management on board as we are currently generating electricity for 6 hours a day to feed the boat in passage mode - it will be more when we live at anchor, so I need to understand where all the energy goes, are our batteries working properly and are they big enough, what chargers do I need, should I change out my generator for something smaller that will be more efficient and of course get the solar panels on board. That almost sounds enough to keep me out of the rum shops!

We also need then to work on a plan for where we are going to spend the hurricane season. We have two options, up north to Maine and the east coast of America (if we can get visas) or head south to Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. We are leaning towards the second option (depending on insurance). Anyone interested in giving us their 2 cents worth (their opinion) as to where to go (and be nice) please leave a comment.

Anyway given that I have been writing this for over a half an hour I had better go and have a look around outside. But I am sure that Bernie and Karen will only be too happy that I am still awake an hour into my shift!

Cheers

Karen and Matt