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Positions
173 19.37N 30.38W
Skardu Log Day #8 (29th November 2004):
Another day of light winds: just enough of a light breeze during the day to keep going, but painfully
slow all night. We seem to be stuck in the middle of a weather system, with no way of
accelerating out of it! This isn’t doing us any favours against the competition, and those yachts
that took a more southerly route will be getting a boost right now. Only a couple of hundred miles
away a deep Atlantic depression is whipping up storms and plenty of wind, but here the sea has
died down and all is calm…… for now.
Despite the slow progress, we reached three milestones for this passage today:
1. at 12:35 we notched up a week at sea – our previous longest offshore passage being 6½
days crossing the Bay of Biscay;
2. at 20:40 our log recorded passing the 1,000 mile mark, and in traditional British Navy fashion
we celebrated with a tot of Pusser’s Rum (kindly supplied by the ARC for such occasions!).
The only casualty of this event was Mark’s toe. In his excitement, Quintin had shouted into the
dark below decks with much urgency “guys, I need you on deck NOW”. Fearing an
emergency, Mark and Martin bounded out of their bunks and up the companionway in 2
seconds flat, Mark jamming his toe badly in the process. Thankfully it was a false alarm, and
the only emergency was that the ice in the rum was melting!
3. at 02:35 we reached our waypoint at 20degrees North 030degrees West – we were due to find
the trade-winds round about here blowing at 15-25 knots, and as we picked them up planned to
alter course from South-West onto a more Westerly heading towards the Caribbean. Clearly the
trades are absent, and current weather forecasts indicate better winds further south, so we shall
continue in search of them!
A rare sight today: Quintin in the galley being genuinely creative! The daily menu is strictly
dictated by what fresh foods need eating up most urgently: three weeks away from civilization
poses unexpected provisioning challenges! This morning we finished the last of our fresh milk,
so it’s UHT from here on, and at lunch we found our supply of carrots in need of consumption,
so they shall be on the menu for the next couple of days! Q’s resultant hot chilli-beef-&-noodle
stir-fry (incorporating a few carrots!) was well appreciated by ‘all hands’.
Great to receive so many text messages in reply to our mass email the other day: friendly
words are much appreciated out here, so thanks to all, and keep them coming!
24hour run to 12.00GMT = 104 NMiles
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