June 11 - A more peacefull existence.
It looks at long last as if we have escaped the big nasty low which is
behind us in the Atlantic. As it sits out there swirling around in an
ominous fashion like a giant bath plug vortex, giving birth to baby lows all
over the place, it is held out there by a nice big high pressure that is
sitting in the Western Approaches. Good, we say here, we have had enough 50
knot jobs for one trip! The only down side is that we have been getting
headwinds for the past couple of days, so we have been flogging away at 9 or
10 knots mostly hard on the wind, heeled over and bouncing around. Still, we
passed the 1000 miles to go mark yesterday, and we are down to 800 this
morning as I write. 800 miles to The Scillies that is, which always feels
like we're home, then a few hours back to Weymouth if the wind plays ball!
It is really good to have the boat and Weymouth on the same screen on the
computer for the first time in weeks.
On the domestic front, our poor old mainsail which, if you think about it
has done getting on for 8000 miles in the past few months and was already a
long way past it's best, is giving up.It is literally coming apart at the
seams, and the back edge now resembles Dracula's cloak in places - it's a
bit loose and flappy! Now there are no more big blows it will get us home
I'm sure. The worst part was that the bluQube logo on one side is coming
off - I had visions of arriving at the finish line in Boston with just the
"e" left, which wouldn't have been good as this was the side they
photographed, but we got it stuck down again OK for the photos, but it is
all coming adrift now!
I also now have a set of indoor oilskins as well as an outdoor set because
we have a few leaks from the odd place, mainly the water ballast valves and
the pump, which could all do with replacing or rebuilding, and the fog we
have been in for the past few days makes the chart table seat soaking wet as
it is all salty now and attracts the moisture, so when we have to sleep
here, or sit here like I am now, you get a soggy bum - yuk! Al I need now
are waterproof slippers.
Somehow, despite the huge size and variety of American supermarkets we
seemed to have finished up with a rather limited menu which usually consists
of porridge, cheese sandwiches for lunch (Yes, the bread is still OK!) and
pasta of some description for supper, but for a change I thought we'd have
some soup instead. Sam grabbed two tins of really nice vegetable soup only
for me to find to my horror that the main ingredient was chicken stock - the
Americans I have discovered put meat and soya into everything, and the
former is not so good if you are a vegetarian - that's one reason why I
couldn't do the Volvo fully crewed round the world race, I can just see a
load of "hard as nails" ocean racers cooking an enormous vat of freeze dried
beef stew for them, and a side order of lentils for the poxy vegetarian, how
long would that last! I am happier alone anyway - just as well really!.
However, in the end yesterday we did manage a break from the routine - a
continental breakfast of fruit, yoghurts, bread and honey, with soup for
lunch and the last of the eggs scrambled along with a tin of baked beans for
super. Back to normal today though thank goodness, I like my little
routines! Sam had a Twix for breakfast though, I think he's all porridged
out but too polite to say so...............