At last, the Trades! For the past 48 hours or so, we have had winds of around 20 kn (high force 5), sometimes gusting up to 27/28 kn (force 6/7). So Follyfin has been creaming along at 6/7/8 kn and her average speed has shot up from around 4.5 to 6.5 kn. Brilliant! The flip side to this very positive development is that staying upright whilst moving about the boat is increasingly difficult, to say nothing of sleeping. The ocean swell is coming at us from two directions (NW and SE. Mostly the seas are chasing up behind us, and some are as high as 5 metres. Often it feels and looks like we are surfing down the waves. Though Follyfin is coping admirably with the situation, the crew is not. Well, we are, but the air occasionally turns a delicate shade of blue. No doubt the crew will arrive battered and bruised and sleep deprived but (hopefully) triumphant.
Early this morning, day 16/17, our distance-to-go dipped under 1000 miles, cause for optimism only marred by sleep deprivation. So to keep morale high, chocolate brownies are baking in the oven as I type. If the fish refuse to bite, the least we can do is savour a sweet treat. If you are watching positions of the fleet on the Atlantic Odyssey website, you will see that Follyfin’s position has hardly changed since yesterday. Don't worry! First Mate slightly overslept, or should I say did not emerge from semi-conscious state, until just after the time positions are collected for the day. Tomorrow should update Follyfin to her current position.
It has not escaped the crew that day 17, 25 January, is also Robbie Burns’ birthday. Regret no haggis aboard but that will not prevent the crew toasting the immortal memory with a wee dram (or two?). So a double celebration this evening: Burns’ birthday and fewer than 1000 miles to our destination.
Otherwise all is well on board the good ship Follyfin. At this point, dear reader, you are warned that daughter Laurel (aka Our Girl on the Ground) is now 2 days overdue for the birth of her first baby. When that happens there will be a short intermission on the blog. However, you can keep up to date with developments via Twitter by googling @Follyfin or @Ivorbennett (who incidentally has been doing a tweet of the day for the entire voyage, whereas I have been less conscientious and concentrating on the blog. I will start tweeting once baby appears though). All very exciting!
Early this morning, day 16/17, our distance-to-go dipped under 1000 miles, cause for optimism only marred by sleep deprivation. So to keep morale high, chocolate brownies are baking in the oven as I type. If the fish refuse to bite, the least we can do is savour a sweet treat. If you are watching positions of the fleet on the Atlantic Odyssey website, you will see that Follyfin’s position has hardly changed since yesterday. Don't worry! First Mate slightly overslept, or should I say did not emerge from semi-conscious state, until just after the time positions are collected for the day. Tomorrow should update Follyfin to her current position.
It has not escaped the crew that day 17, 25 January, is also Robbie Burns’ birthday. Regret no haggis aboard but that will not prevent the crew toasting the immortal memory with a wee dram (or two?). So a double celebration this evening: Burns’ birthday and fewer than 1000 miles to our destination.
Otherwise all is well on board the good ship Follyfin. At this point, dear reader, you are warned that daughter Laurel (aka Our Girl on the Ground) is now 2 days overdue for the birth of her first baby. When that happens there will be a short intermission on the blog. However, you can keep up to date with developments via Twitter by googling @Follyfin or @Ivorbennett (who incidentally has been doing a tweet of the day for the entire voyage, whereas I have been less conscientious and concentrating on the blog. I will start tweeting once baby appears though). All very exciting!
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