Day 27

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCUS!!



We've had a great day! It started well with present and card opening in the glorious sunshine. This included a Yule Log arriving "by drone" and several surprise cards - Marcus says thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes!! Fridge cake followed midmorning (and after lunch) and then a game of pass-the-parcel with Marcus (surprisingly) winning a box of Chocolate Mountain Cookies Extra. Tea was the third pie and mash of the trip (a fan's favourite) and then mum had made a delicious trifle for pudding. All in all an excellent day.



The sailing has been pleasant too. We've averaged 3.5-4 knots all day on a day when the forecast was for no wind, and we're still going (just - with 3 sails up). The diesel situation has come to a head. After motoring last night we have significantly depleted the top two tanks and we have never before run down to the bottom 180 litre tank. Should we risk it for an earlier arrival at St Martin? The debate continues. In today's flatter seas we were able to change the diesel filter which was filthy from where sediment in the tanks has been stirred up in the big seas. Dad says "preventative maintenance, that's what it's all about".



We now have 263.3 miles left to go and the GPS is showing an estimated arrival time now that it's less than 100 hours! We hope this will be Tuesday morning but the wind is not looking favourable so watch this space....



We saw a bird today. It was at least 1.5 times the size of the White Tropics Bird and was black. It had a very distinctive long forked tail and it soared well above the water level with slow wind beats vaguely reminiscent of a heron. Any ideas? Alixora - can you help?



Just about on to our last water tank - about 50 litres left. No worries though as mum still has 140 litres of drinking water in reserve so we should be ok for 4 more days or so.....



Thank you for the blog comments everyone:



JAsk - 1) preventer 2) Noah's Ark or a Tanker at Anchor 3) No 4) Deep Purple



Bob - great question! How's this?

Confident - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex, Jason Wilcox, Graeme Le Saux, Ruel Fox, Nicolas Alexandersson, Sylvain Marveaux

Maybe - Simon Cox, Danny Maddix, Neil Cox, Graham Alexander

OGs only? - Abel Xavier, Danny Fox, Lee Dixon



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-31 : 18:46 UTC-3

LATITUDE=18 56N

LONGITUDE=058 36W

SPEED=3.5-4 after motoring last night

COURSE=260

WIND DIR=SSE

WIND SPEED=10-12

WAVE_HT=<1m

24HR LOG MILES=90 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2825/287 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Stress free pleasant day sailing when we thought we'd be slopping around



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Re: Petronella Position Report

You seem to be moving along quite nicely now

Any closer and you could near be there
Checking weather to see if I can make it a goodee and harpee birthmas Marcus

WIND

SAT 31 1200 UTC 10 Kn Sish (170?)

Sadly, a wee bit Sther and it would be 10 Kn 120 deg

1500 UTC Even sadlyer it now drops to 5

May wish to hold on to your diesel until ....

2100 UTC 0 Kn NSEW

This in-excess of wind shall continue until

shall continue until

oh dear

plse wait

SUN 01 you may get 5 or even 10 Kn NNEish or NEish or ENEish

You are in middle of less than sod all and 10  15 Kn

MON 02 0001 or 0300 UTC will start to see incr to 15 20 Kn EENE

Plse keep trucking Mama as

TUES 03 1899 UTC dropping to 10 EEESE or 100

Then WED 0600 no wind above 18N

Just hope you are now at anchor

Luck

R

Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-30 : 16:40 UTC-3

LATITUDE=19 11N

LONGITUDE=056 59W

SPEED=3.5 last night, 5.5-6 today

COURSE=262

WIND DIR=SE

WIND SPEED=13

WAVE_HT=2m

24HR LOG MILES=81 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2621/375 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Perfect pm sailing, wind to drop tonight?



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Day 26

A sailing day of two halves. Last night was painful. Just a little breeze so we had the genoa poled out to prevent flapping and we ghosted along at just a couple of knots. But today was perfect. With the genoa stll poled out to starboard and the preventered main behind it we flew (for Petronella) along at 6 knots for hours on end. Blue skies, a 1m swell and a few puffy cumulus clouds - Trade wind sailing as it is described in the books though we were on a beam reach rather than downwind. Fantastic. Now the wind has dropped a bit but we are still moving well in winds that should have died by now. Fingers crossed we don't hit another flat spell before our arrival. Of course, all the day's action predictably came at the same time. As we hoisted the main sail, the dolphins arrived to give us another acrobatic show and then what's this - a ship. It changed course to come up our starboard side, glid past us at just a few hundred yards and then disappeared across our bows bound for who knows where.



Talking of arrival, we now have just over 350 miles left to go and we have started to get out the pilots and detailed charts for the Caribbean. Cripes, we're nearly there. Current arrival day is estimated for Tuesday but of course the wind will have the final say.



The big news though is that tomorrow is Marcus' birthday. Preparations have continued throughout the day. Out came the plain chocolate and digestives for the traditional Douch 'fridge' birthday cake (Marcus claims this is all he wants to eat tomorrow) and there have also been furtive rustlings suggestive of possible gifts for tomorrow.



Dinner was 'interesting'. Another helping of the never ending Spanish ham leg, baked beans and kidney beans, more mung beans, mayonnaise and rice. And very tasty it was too. We did find a bag of small potatoes we had forgotten about and a couple of very squashed tomatoes which were all consigned to the briney deep.



Right, time to send this off and hope for an optimistic weather forecast in return.



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Re: Petronella Position Report

Hi Pet,

Your time of 1500 is due in 4 hours

Here is your daily wether report (he said baaashfully)

Lord knows why your reports take about 5 hours to get to me.

Watch for sign posts in the water as they have several

Ste Marten to French side where you will not

St Maarten to Dutch side where you will

Cheap gin available French side

Also excellent moule en frites en numerous bieres

Open accounts at both Budget and Island Water World (marine stores)

Take in boat papers

No taxes and 10% off

WIND

FRI

Currently on cusp of 10 Kn 160 deg and 15 Kn 120 deg

2100 UTC sodall fr S

Remember the movie Dead Calm?

Do not stop to check jetsam

If you do, rush thru the scenes and just fire your flare thru your sail

Should be a baddie on the other side eating fire

Unless you can sneak below 18 S

The wind will continue to not continue until early next month

Sun 01 02 1800 hrs

After your roast wether the weather will improve

10 Kn E

Midnight 15 Kn E

Tues 02 02 0600 UTC 20 Kn E

Could you hurry plse as it softens  Wed late

Luck

R

On 29/01/2015, at 7:21 PM, MDLL8@sailmail.com wrote:

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-29 : 18:18 UTC-3
LATITUDE=19 15N
LONGITUDE=55 39W
SPEED=4
COURSE=262
WIND DIR=ESE
WIND SPEED=10
WAVE_HT=1-2m
24HR MILES=100 (12noon til 12noon
PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin
MILES DONE/TO GO:2654/455 (12 noon)
COMMENTS=Well on the way now
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Day 25

Again, not much to report, we've had a good sailing day averaging over 4 knots in steady but light wind. The miles tick down slowly and one day merges into the next.



The next insight into daily life comes from the nighttime and the sleeping arrangements on board. Someone is always on watch which leaves three people to accommodate at any point of the night. Mum originally thought we would all have our own sheet sleeping bags and move them with us from bed to bed...... This is just not feasible when coming off a 2-4am watch in the pitch black, soaking wet and salty so it's pretty much a free for all.



There are three places to sleep:



1) The Port Berth - in the 'lounge' (saloon) this is a small double bed barricaded in by the table. It has a duvet and numerous pillows and at anchor/ in a marina serves as a double bed. Not here! With the rockiness you need to kind of wedge yourself in against the cupboards or the table and put some limbs out ("the stabilisers" - mum) to stop you rolling around. Very comfortable and spacious and in the heart of all the action.



2) The Starboard Berth - a single bunk also in the saloon with a very effective net stopper-faller-outer (lee cloth) which mum made and which has so far prevented anyone crashing to the floor as happened on our trip from Greece to Sicily. This has a fleecy blanket and mum's tiny pillow, plus cushions for anyone else. Below the electronic charging station and next to the loo...



3) The Squirrel Nest - in the aft cabin, this is a vast collection of duvets, pillows and blankets. The whole cabin is just a bed, so you can't fall out and you can get nuzzled next to one wall or the other in a pile of warmth. Downsides are that you miss all the excitement as you're out of the way and it can be very hot as there's no air movement.



We each have our location of preference:



Mum - predominantly sleeps in Option 2 as it's the most convenient if anyone needs her on deck during the night. Rarely seen in Option 3.

Marcus - can only sleep in Option 1 or 2 as Option 3 can be a bit sicky. Option 1 is the favourite and also serves as "the sick bed" early in the passage

Dad - surprised me by saying that he prefers Options 1 or 2 as he spends most of the night in the Squirrel Nest

Me - I invariably sleep in every bed during the night as mum goes on watch when I finish my watch and so only her bed is empty. At the end of her shift I move into Marcus' bed so she can have her bed back, then when dad goes onto watch I go into the Squirrel Nest so Marcus can stay in the saloon. By far my favourite is the Squirrel Nest.



In other news, fresh fruit is very very low. Our salads now consist of cabbage, mung beans and pickled gerkins. There's a whole rotation in the mung bean farm with some soaking in the 'nursery', one day olds in the 'infant school' and ready to eats in the 'senior school'. There are 4 oranges, some potatoes, some lemons and some onions left. Needless to say, tonight's Pasta Putanesca came entirely from the store cupboard!



Thanks to Wombat for present number 3 - they've gone already x x



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-29 : 18:18 UTC-3

LATITUDE=19 15N

LONGITUDE=55 39W

SPEED=4

COURSE=262

WIND DIR=ESE

WIND SPEED=10

WAVE_HT=1-2m

24HR MILES=100 (12noon til 12noon

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2654/455 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Well on the way now



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Re: Petronella Position Report

ullo ullo ullo

Apologies for missing yesterdays weather info but was verily busy working on boat getting ready to splash her on Friday

Was meant to be today Thurs

Bed early as was pretty knackered and now up at 3 am drinking tea

Not sure how to break this gently but the wind pretty soon will not be

WIND

THURS 29

As I scribe at 0800 UTC (it really is GMT) you should have 15 20 Kn 100 deg

FRI 30

1500 GMT (did the Belgians change it?)

You should be close now

380 390 to go?

Puff down to 10 Kn 120 deg

Veering SW

3 hrs later will drop to 5 Kn Non Directional

SAT

Not looking good

SUN

Midday roast a good idea but careful as wind will freshen 15 Kn 75 deg

Bring spuds to boil prior to roasting them

20 Kn E for until you arrive

Luck

R

Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-28 : 18:02 UTC-3

LATITUDE=19 34N

LONGITUDE=53 56W

SPEED=3.5-4

COURSE=255

WIND DIR=ESE

WIND SPEED=10 (plus squalls)

WAVE_HT=2m

24HR MILES=96 (12noon til 12noon

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2554/553 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Making good progress



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Day 24

The focus has shifted subtly today and it feels like the objective has become more about getting there rather than about the journey itself. We'll pass the 500-mile mark later tonight and the milestones seem to be coming thick and fast as an extra hundred miles done now seems like a significant part of the distance remaining.



Not much to report. I've just watched dad wash up in very rocky conditions and thought a small insight into this normally mundane task would give an idea of life on board:



1. Pre-wash on deck in sea water - involves someone fishing out a bucket of water from the sea using a bucket on a string (when moving fast this feels like losing an arm), spilling most of it on themselves as they bring it over the guard rails and then placing it on the cockpit floor. Next it's time to catch the assorted crockery and cutlery which is now spread out around the cockpit or trapped between people's knees and rinse it clean.



2. Boil the kettle - foot pump water into the kettle, turn the gas on, light hob. Marvel once again at the impossibility of the gimbled stove - how does it not fall off?



3. Pass the pre-washed items down to the galley - inevitably this involves spilt water, dropped cutlery and flying missiles. The drying up area is nearly full of the mung bean farm so this must be negotiated - do you move these to an inevitably perilous alternative location (Marcus), put the dirty stuff in the remaining space, wash it and then return it (dad), or dry up as you go along (me)?



4. The wash - we don't have that much water remaining so there's about 2 inches of water in the bowl, a combination of boiled water and foot-pumped water. The water is sloshing around so one side is deep and the other side empty and then then 2 seconds later this is reversed.



5. The dry - done at different times during the process (see point 3), but must be done at the same time as putting away as anything put down on a surface will soon be on the other side of the boat, in many pieces. Cupboards are opened and items tumble out, you force everything back in and quickly shut the door, latching it and leaving it for the next unsuspecting user. The worst culprit is the 'cupboard from hell' with the pans, grater, tupperware etc. etc. etc. which is up there with the most annoying things on the boat.



6. Clear up - empty the sink using the hand pump which is buried beneath flasks, cups and bowls. Pass the minging sink strainer up to deck to be disposed of overboard, put recycling away in its Ikea bag.



7. Wipe brow as you will inevitably be sweating buckets by this point.



In other news, an excellent 10-minute takeover (remember those Bob and Ian?!) where everyone chooses one song (well, dad chose two) threw up these gems:



Santiago - Show of Hands

Let's do the Fabrice Fernanadez - Philip Douch

Mirrorball - Elbow

Losing my Religion - REM

No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-27 : 18:53 UTC-3

LATITUDE=20 01N

LONGITUDE=52 27W

SPEED=4

COURSE=260

WIND DIR=ESE

WIND SPEED=10-15

WAVE_HT=1-3m

24HR MILES=98 (12noon til 12noon) - log reading

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2458/646 (12 noon) - GPS reading

COMMENTS=Making good progress



Russ - blog comments welcome



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Day 23

We've had an excellent sailing day today, 4.5-5 knots in exactly the right direction under genoa alone - the wind and waves have got up again and we're fast heading for St Martin. During my 8-10pm watch we expect to dip under the 600-mile mark! And we think it will feel VERY close when we're down to the 400s in a couple of days! Dad said today that it feels like "the beginning of the end". Not sure how I feel about that. We're having a great time still, but mum is really keen to get there now.



We had a very tough night. As promised, the re-start of the trades was heralded by a line of squalls with the wind from all directions and strengths, seemingly at the same time. In the space of 5-minutes on my watch we had dead calm, 20 knots, northerly, south-easterly and then westerly (?). Without our wind instruments it was pretty hairy and the main was crashing. Mum decided we should take it down - a good decision - and then we needed to take the pole down so we could use the normal genoa which meant dragging Marcus from his warm bed into the squall where he did a very good job on the halyard despite not being totally awake.



All sorted, we bowled along into the night, not necessarily in the right direction, but still heading west. Marcus was talk of the boat this morning having done an extra hour at the end of his watch so that dad could go back to bed, having been up half the night. He was definitely flavour of the month!



We've mostly hand-steered today, though Wanda is on now, which has kept fun and games to a minimum. This said, Marcus and I did have a 2 1/2 hour disco during his 2-5pm watch involving an iPod, one pair of headphones and Marcus' Casio F91W watch (a classic) which comes complete with disco lights. Only a few times did excess air-drumming lead to a near gybe.



Stores are starting to run a bit lower. We repeated the red-thai curry with the last of the sweet potatoes and red onions today and I don't think it will be long until we're on to tins. Wombat - you'll be relieved to know we still have 4.5 blocks of cheddar remaining! Snacks are still plentiful, however, with chips and "Crusty Croc" dips the current favourite. Olives with anchovies also a classic evening watch treat. We have been assured these will not run out - if they did it may cause a mutiny!



Happy birthday Abi!! x



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-26 : 19:40 UTC-3

LATITUDE=20 21N

LONGITUDE=21 00W

SPEED=4

COURSE=260

WIND DIR=E

WIND SPEED=10-15

WAVE_HT=1-2m

24HR MILES=99 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2360/731 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=More wind, more movement.



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Day 22

Wow, 22 days. Sounds like a really long time, but seems like no time at all, or a lifetime, it's hard to be sure.



THE WIND IS BACK - and slightly more than we were anticipating which is great. We've been sailing all day and chomping up the miles. First with the downwind rig and now with just the prevented main. Averaging 4 knots made good and nearly under 700 miles to go! We passed 3/4 of the way at lunchtime today (I predicted the time we'd get there most closely and won some Colin the Caterpillars - there are none left). We're also past 50 West and we've put the hour back today to "Brasilia" time. Feels like we're getting closer now.



Another sad day for the fish count today. The reel whizzed and dad fought a 1 metre mahi mahi before it dived under the boat at the last minute snapping the line. It's very difficult to land fish from Petronella (I'm told) because it has a canoe stern and all of the self-steering gear is there, meaning you have to land the fish down the side of the boat, creating hazards such as the one above. Fish for tea was quickly replaced with delicious pasta carbonara by Marcus.



Not much else to report really, a bit colder tonight - still in wet weather gear during night watches, though the days are now pleasant.



Marcus just said "imagine if this was a normal house tilting and crashing around". We decided major hazards would include a full bath, a fireplace and a paperweight ("it would be like a mortar"). Another topical conversation today featured the question: "what did we do last Thursday". The answer: "not a clue"!



Happy birthday for tomorrow to Abi! Hope you got your present, I miss your face. x x



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Day 21

Despite a paltry 60 miles in 29.5 hours, we've had a great day!



No wind and not enough diesel to get us all the way meant a day and a half of, essentially, drifting. It's been incredible conditions, the sea like glass, or silk and the deepest blue stretching away under clear skies with, at times not a breath of wind stirring the surface. It seems quite unbelievable that 100s of miles from the nearest land the conditions can be quite so still. The word "surreal" has been used more than once today.



The first surreal experience was deciding that it was very hot (32 degrees), very slow (under 1 knot) and that the sea looked very inviting. So in we went..... 850 miles from the nearest land, in water 4000m deep. Marcus' last words to me before I climbed down the ladder were "I'll be pretty annoyed if you get eaten by a shark". Only a brief dip but very refreshing, if not slightly unnerving and then back on deck for a sun-warm body wash - I'm the cleanest I've been in weeks!



Soon after, Marcus and I were chatting on deck when he suddenly said "Fish!! A big one" Swimming next to the boat were two beautiful, blue, iridescent mahi mahi (google them, they are amazing), soon the fishing rod was out, but they were so lovely and they looked so happy that we decided we didn't actually want to catch them (sorry, Russell). We used the Veho (go-pro rival) on a handy-hooker to film them underwater and dad got some great photos with the big camera. They were with us off and on for about an hour until we fed them some tuna pasta (covered in "their brothers" - thanks mum) and off they went.



The engine is back on now (boo) as we chug along in the still night. Marcus is hoping to avoid the downpours which only he and mum experienced last night and everyone is ready for the wind to freshen, which it is forecast to do....... but not for a few days.



Today we feel particularly fortunate to have this experience and certainly aren't wishing the days away just yet.



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-25 : 19:53 UTC-2

LATITUDE=20 28N

LONGITUDE=49 03W

SPEED=nothing-4.5

COURSE=262

WIND DIR=none

WIND SPEED=none

WAVE_HT=swell of 40cm

24HR MILES=40 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:2261/829 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Come on the wind!



Russ - the blog address is www.yachtpetronella.blogspot.com (I should be so lucky!! J)



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Day 20

No wind today. No wind forecast for days. Not enough diesel to motor 800 miles. It's not looking good. We motored through the night and then decided to sail during the day. A couple of times we touched 4 knots but most of the time it's been 2.5k to 3.5k under full main and genoa in about 7 knots of wind. Tomorrow and the next day are predicted to be even less wind at around 6 knots. Not good, especially as shore support has now booked Jen and Marcus' tickets out of St Martin for 9th Feb. Surely we should be there by then!!



In the light of the lack of sailing action we have had to look elsewhere. The Sunday Telegraph crossword No 11 has yielded a paltry half dozen clues and we've all enjoyed watching little clumps of the dreaded yellow weed drift serenely by. The one excitement was a 45m sailing boat that ghosted up behind us, past us and disappeared into the distance on a similar track to ours. When we first saw it approaching it was motoring but when it saw us sailing(!) it raised its sails. Initially we saw it on AIS too but they switched that off as they approached so we didn't bother to hail them. In fact we didn't bother to do much except bob along.



We did have an interesting(?) hour long chat about square roots though. The subject arose because the wind strength was "the square root of sod all". I was amazed when it turned out that the square roots of positive numbers less than unity were actually greater than the numbers themselves. How can this be? It defies logic. Abi, please help me. In fact I was so upset by this fact that I went into "Calculus Shock" as I tried to remember my A-Level maths - something about dx/d-zel trending to zero.



At the moment Marcus is reading a book about The FARC which is a guerilla (not gorilla) group from Colombia, Gill and Jenny are playing Travel Scrabble at the same time as steering the boat and I am waiting to see if I can join the nightly radio net.



Gastronomically the Fray Bentos pies had to take a back seat to mung bean salad and 3 carbohydrate curry (rice, potato and sweet potato as greens are now in short supply). Needless to say it was again yummy - so much so that the Marcus even consumed the washing up scraping leftovers that were supposed to be destined for the briney.



Hey ho. A life on the ocean wave.



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-24 : 18:00 UTC-2

LATITUDE=20 40N

LONGITUDE=48 21W

SPEED=1.3-4.45

COURSE=262

WIND DIR=SE

WIND SPEED=6

WAVE_HT=<1m

24HR MILES=100 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Direct to St Martin (arrival estimated 2016)

MILES DONE/TO GO:2217/869 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Too much engine, not enough wind again



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Day 19

Day 19 in the middle of the Atlantic and the contestants are losing the plot. Dad and Jen are in the cockpit, writing the blog in the growing dusk.



Had a really good day. Sunny and warm and after motoring through the night we made a good course under main and genoa this afternoon. Light winds, flat seas and unexpected beam reach made for a very pleasant afternoon. Back on the motor now though. BOOOOOO.



Big news of the day: a fish!! Well....... almost a fish. In the middle of a frantic hour of activity involving 5 different sail configurations, the reel finally screamed again! Dad abandoned the auto-helm and leapt to the rod. I was sent down to get the gaff, a towel, some alcohol and a kitchen knife, all in different locations, whilst mum and Marcus cleared the cockpit and dad trailed a 2ft mahi mahi behind the boat. We were just about ready when it got away with a final wiggle. Noooooooooooooo. Dad said it was iridescent purple and looked delicious. Since then, no more fish action. Damn these denizens of the deep.



In better food news, we dined tonight on luscious Fray Bentos pies - the first repeat of the journey - not known for their nutritional value but famed for their minging yet delicious pastry top. These followed a starter of the hottest thai salad in the history of the world. Mum has been growing mung beans into bean sprouts (as you do if you're a 70s hippy chick) and we had these with red caddage, tomato (one left now) and a thai sauce plus chunks of ridiculously hot Canarian red chillis. Very good. More mung beans growing in the sink as we speak.



Chief Engineer dad fixed a leaking water pipe in the engine at 8.30am this morning having mulled over the source of the drip for half the night. He couldn't fix the compass light at present as it involves removing the head lining (ceiling) but has identified the problem.



We passed the 1000 mile to go mark at 05:59 last night (one minute before the end of Marcus' watch) and are now on the last chart fold, past the 45 degree line and past 2/3 of the way. Our discussion at tea time however established that only mum actually wants to get there (for Pina Coladas in a beach bar)! A really beautiful evening bobbing along at 1.3 knots before we decided we'd better switch on the engine and Marcus shared his Christmas Fudge bars with us all which was great.



No more ships today, but one plane last night, one piece of polystyrene rubbish and....... WILSON, the errant football from Castaway. Unfortunately for mum, Tom Hanks was nowhere to be seen.



Spirits remain sky high and we're having a great time. It's really fun and weird but great.



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-22 : 19:38 UTC-2

LATITUDE=20 55N

LONGITUDE=46 49W

SPEED=5

COURSE=255

WIND DIR=SE

WIND SPEED=10

WAVE_HT=<1m

24HR MILES=102 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=263

MILES DONE/TO GO:2117/968 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Too much engine, not enough wind



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Re: Petronella Position Report

Well well well

Who would have tort it

1000 Nm to go

Bloody good job

First of all Gill

My apologies for my rather nautie cal humour

Just couldna help myself

Those nights will stay in your mind forever

They are just glorious

I always do the midnight to 0300 watch and love it

Jane 0300 0600 to see the sun rise

WIND

FRI Jan 23 1800 UTC

10 Kn SE

SAT 24 1500 5KN SE Verring SSE

Fr 1800 hrs backing gradually until

SUN 25 0600 E 5 Kn

MON 26 incr to 10 Kn E

WED 28 0600 15 20 Kn E

Make the most of it as it drops THURS 1200 hrs

Luck there John

Wink

Private and confidential for John

Did you get laid early this morning?

R

On 22/01/2015, at 4:41 PM, MDLL8@sailmail.com wrote:

A velvet night. Billions of stars glittering above me as we glide quietly across a velvet sea. Leonard Cohen playing softly in my ears and here I am 1,000 miles form anywhere all alone in my own magical, wonderful world. A shooting star carves across the sky and alongside me the sea is lit up with sparkling silver yellow phosphorescence.

I am halfway through my 2am-4am watch in a world where I have seen more whales than people in the last month and it feels like I've been doing this forever. My family sleeps below and I can see the soft red glow of the navigation instruments out of the corner of my eye. My lovely daughter will be up in a bit to take 4am-6am from me. For the first time I don't want this to end.

Day 18

Slowly slowly catch a monkey........... but still no fish!



Sloshing around in 10 knots of wind today we've tried a number of sail combinations: main alone, poled out genoa and hanked on genoa, poled out genoa, now back to the main (late amendment - back to poled out genoa for the night) getting us slowly, slowly towards our destination to lesser or greater degrees. The benefits of this is that there is a lot of time for chatting, crosswords, reading, napping and eating between bursts of activity but the downside is the miles tick only slowly past.



In better progression news, another reasonable night saw us pass the 2000 mile mark and we now have just under 1050 miles to go. Dad has been counting us down by the mile today - not sure if this is going to continue all the way or not.



Last night was just lovely, calm, warm-ish (only two fleeces under the wet weather gear) and clear. Dad and I spent ages looking at the stars and consolidating our newly learnt constellations whilst having a midnight feast of ham leg and olives with anchovies! Good times.



Thanks to Wombat for the second of our team presents - the bag of crisps will no doubt make it's way to the night-watch snack hanging basket and I should think they won't last long!



Fresh provisions are beginning to run low - we ate our second-to-last mango today and there are only a handful of oranges left. This said, Marcus provided us with an excellent tea of smoked salmon pasta (no fresh fish yet) and we still haven't repeated an evening meal!



We forgot to mention yesterday in the excitement of the whales that WE SAW A SHIP!! And not just on AIS, but passing in clear view across the horizon. We think it was the first ship we've seen for 14 days! You know you're short of external stimuli when everyone scampers up to get a glimpse of passing civilisation.



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-22 : 18:23 UTC-2

LATITUDE=21 11N

LONGITUDE=44 55W

SPEED=3

COURSE=260

WIND DIR=E

WIND SPEED=10

WAVE_HT=1m

24HR MILES=96 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=265

MILES DONE/TO GO:2015/1067 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Not going anywhere fast



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Nightwatch

A velvet night. Billions of stars glittering above me as we glide quietly across a velvet sea. Leonard Cohen playing softly in my ears and here I am 1,000 miles form anywhere all alone in my own magical, wonderful world. A shooting star carves across the sky and alongside me the sea is lit up with sparkling silver yellow phosphorescence.



I am halfway through my 2am-4am watch in a world where I have seen more whales than people in the last month and it feels like I've been doing this forever. My family sleeps below and I can see the soft red glow of the navigation instruments out of the corner of my eye. My lovely daughter will be up in a bit to take 4am-6am from me. For the first time I don't want this to end.



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Re: Petronella Position Report

As Aunt Daisy said in NZ many years ago on her mid morning "Women's Hour" program:

"Good morning good morning good morning, and how are you all this morning.

I woke up to a most glorious morning with the sun shining right up my back passage."

You can trust me on this

I don't want to nag, but I do wish you lot would extractez vous la digit de la derriere as we will be sneaking off from Curacao to warmer climes in a week or so

Apart from that I do like the way your movements are going

Reminds me

Is Marcus bearing up okay?

Or should that be bearing down

WIND

Thurs 22 Jan 1800 hrs 10 Kn at 100 deg

Fri 23 Jan 0900 hrs start to veer to 120 135 deg

Sat 24 0300 hrs dropping to 5 Kn backing to 60 or 70 deg

Mon 26 1800 hrs will see grad incr to 15 Kn 90 deg

Tues 27 and on > to 20 25Kn fr E

Weather will continue to be influenced by either H or L press systems N S E or W depending on what is happening

Well done

Carry on

Luck

R

Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-21 : 18:48 UTC-2

LATITUDE=20 59N

LONGITUDE=43 19W

SPEED=4.9

COURSE=275

WIND DIR=E

WIND SPEED=15

WAVE_HT=2m

24HR MILES=108 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Main on good starboard tack until wind drops, then motor southwest

MILES DONE/TO GO:1914/1163 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=The wind is back, for now...



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Day 17

Having put the sail up at dusk last night in the vain hope that there might be some wind over night, we actually made really good progress through the dark, with the talk of the night-watch handovers being The Flying Fish Rescue. I had just made myself a Cup-a-Soup when I heard a flapping on the side of the deck. I leant over to see a 20cm flying fish in it's death throws on the deck. I reached out, scooped it up and flung it back into the sea, where it sailed off into the dark leaving my hand covered in slimy scales and stinking of fish. Soon, the news had spread, and by the time I saw dad next, everyone had already told him about the excitement.



In other fish news, still no fish news!



Despite forecasts of very light winds, we've made good progress today and have chugged steadily along at 4.5-5 knots. Occasional squally showers and clouds break the warm sunshine and general relaxation taking place on deck.



Marcus was on watch, on deck on his own, as the pizza was cooking this evening when he suddenly shouted "whale", we all rushed up but were too late to see anything but the disappearing plumes of water it was blowing out, having passed us going in the opposite direction. Marcus described what he'd seen, a much bigger whale than the Minkes we'd seen a few days previously and we identified it as a probable Humpback. Very exciting!



Those who'd missed the Humpback were rewarded just an hour or so later, however, when two Minke Whales came and swam with the boat for about 20 minutes or so. They were great, surfing in the waves, popping out about 10 metres from the boat. They didn't come as close as the ones the other day, but they stayed for much longer and seeing their white flashes clearly through the rollers behind us was pretty special.



In other news, we should break the 2000 mile mark over night which seems like a really long way. Not far off the miles to go reading less than a 1000 miles too which feels like a real landmark. If we can maintain our goal of 100 miles made good each day, we should get in on the 1st or 2nd February. It still feels a long way off but we're starting to talk about it more and dad said today that he thinks it feels like we're at "the end of the middle" which I think nicely sums it up.



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Re: Petronella Position Report

Bon bloody jour mon petite Pet

Must admit I am rather flattered that this dribble is the high light of your days

Very saddened to boot as your days must be rather lacking

As you say John (Gill?) you need to get out more

During our crossing when it was pretty well dead calm (I can feel a movie coming on) we dropped the dinghy and did a spot of wake boarding

Give it a shot, you may enjoy it

Suggest you hold off engine until it drops a lot and it may

WIND

Barring changes it will remain as it is at 15 Kn

Until Thurs 22 Jan 0600 UTC when you may find a tiny wee hole with sod all wind which I am sure you will persevere in locating

Incr to 15 Kn 2100 hrs EESE

Bugger, wifi has packed a sad

There will be no more weather until further notice

5 hours later

Whoa now have we have wifi

Wether is also here

23 Jan Fri 1800 hrs clocks to SE at 10 Kn

24 Jan Sat 1200 hrs E at 10 Kn

Sod all above 21 deg

Like 5 to 10 Kn

Mon 26 should see > to 15 Kn Poss 20 Kn

Tues Wed will see > to 20 25 Kn E

This will be short lived dropping to 15 20 Kn

Luck R

Re: Petronella Position Report

Well how de doodie there Guys and Gals



Apologies for the right tardy response chaps and chapesses, but my Buddy that is helping polish the boat fell of the ladder and I had to take him to hospital for 10 stitches

Stupid bugger

However, all is not lost as we stopped off for a couple of beverages on the way back



Soooooo, never fear, the wind will be here

Or there



WIND

Should incr Wed 0600 UTC to 15 Kn and you should keep that puffy stuff until Thursday

Now then, if you hurry up a tad and get to 45 W by Fri 23 you can take advantage of less than bugger all wind as it may drop to 5 - 10 Kn by then

If you believe longish forecasts, the less than puff may last until Sunday

HOWEVER, there is a line sort of alongish 18 to 21 N with more puff below that line

The really good new is that in a weeks time (Tues 27) you may well have 15 - 20 Kn

Suggest you put a bigger leader on you line and just fish for the next week



VISIBILITY PRECIPITATION (that would be rain) CLOUD COVER and SEA TEMP

Suggest strongly that you forget this sailing caper and just soak up the sun

Pretend you are in a delightful anchorage

Have a few beers

Cloud cover should not be covering

Sea temp was 19 in Canaries when you left

It will now be about 25 so a few laps around the boat could be the order of the day

If you do, please keep someone on board at all times (that you trust) and don't think about the fish that chomped through our steel leader

R

Petronella Position Report

IMESTAMP=2015-01-20 : 18:40 UTC-2

LATITUDE=20 37N

LONGITUDE=41 25W

SPEED=4

COURSE=265

WIND DIR=ESE

WIND SPEED=10-15

WAVE_HT=1

24HR MILES=100 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Take advantage of whatever wind we can find

MILES DONE/TO GO:1806/1266 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Wind's dropped; going even slower, first bit of engine



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Day 16

A frustrating day. The wind was ESE, light with some swell. We decided to try out our downwind sail setup. However this was designed with our genoa poled out to starboard with a hanked on foresail to port on a second forestay for those NE winds we were going to get. Today though we had wind on the port quarter and try as we might we could not get things to work. Blocks were in the wrong position, the second pole was in the wrong place, the uphaul was crossed over, and when we did get it all sorted out the wind was too light and swell too large to prevent both sails flapping around. Eventually we decided it had to be the engine so for the first time in 15 days the old ironsail was started up. Even then we could only manage 4.5k as there seemed to be an adverse current knocking us back. All very frustrating but we engined on for a few hours before the wind mercifully backed to ENE and we reverted to our trusty mainsail setup for the night. We are currently making just under 4k and the wind is forecast to stay light for the foreseeable future. It could be a long 1200 miles to St Maarten!



The good news though is that the weather is now kinda tropical. 28 degrees C and shorts and T shirt weather during the day. All in all it is much more comfortable as we loll around the cockpit.



Fishing. Still no fish but the first hard luck story. The lure had been out for a couple of hours when we heard a short sharp reel scream (you know how it is Stu) and then nothing. Eventually I bought the line in and there it was - gone. The wire trace was bitten right through. Ah well, there goes another monster - probably too big to eat anyhow. However, it was not an entirely fishless day though. Up on the foredeck this morning we found a dead 2" long (if that) flying fish who had leapt one time too many. Around us today we saw quite a few larger ones too. They shoot out of the water at a low angle and then glide just above the surface of the sea for several hundred metres before flopping back in. Amazing - at first sight they look like small birds.



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-19 : 20:58 UTC

LATITUDE=21 00N

LONGITUDE=39 46W

SPEED=4-4.5

COURSE=265

WIND DIR=ESE

WIND SPEED=10-15

WAVE_HT=1m

24HR MILES=109 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Great circle to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:1706/1363 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Wind's dropped; going slower



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Day 15

Another day closer. It seems strange, but waking up in the middle of the Atlantic has now become the norm' and doesn't actually seem weird any more, which in itself is fairly weird. It's funny how quickly you adapt to a new situation and we now have routines and habits within the small confines of our environment which we just get on with. Everything's still hard work and the simplest jobs take an age but that just seems normal now.



The sea is constantly changing; colour, sound, wave size and direction, effect on the boat, splashiness etc. It's there all the time - you can hear it when you're in bed or washing up and the deck and cockpit are almost constantly wet from waves. This said, we only really use it to pre-wash the dishes in the evening and clip on with our safety lines at all times to avoid going into it.



The weather has been much better today and everyone reverted to their favourite warm weather clothes: marcus and mum - shorts and t-shirt, dad - underpants, me - knickers and t-shirt (like father like daughter). It was lovely to have the warm sun on your skin and abandon the salopettes and jacket for a few hours. The wind has been quite light today and we've had the full main up all day. Having decided to leave it up un-reefed overnight, we changed our mind at the last minute when weird clouds started rolling in - better safe than sorry. Tomorrow we plan to try out our down-wind rig and pole out the genoa if conditions are favourable.



The miles to go creep down and the miles done creep up. Despite a slower day yesterday we still racked up 106 miles made good and are inching our way across the chart. Only another 300 miles to go until the clocks go back again. Slowly slowly....



Mum had a birthday video from The Bradylls Friends tonight, her choir from back in Cumbria. She really enjoyed their first song (second song to follow later in the trip) and is loving all of the messages and letters that people have sent - thanks to everyone who contributed.



The fishing line has been out again today, but to no avail. There's a fish-sized hole in the fridge waiting for it now too.... no pressure dad!



We saw two birds earlier, they were black and moved like swifts over the water but were the size of cormorants. Suggestions on a postcard please...... (or in the comments section).



Think that's about all for now.



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Re: Petronella Position Report

Morning Pet

Excellent to see you are half way there

I often feel like that myself

Per previous email suggest you arrive French side

For checking in Jane will tell you were go as she has done it before

JANE PLEASE ADVISE

Suggest the Ladies go in as the French do prefer the Ladies and they know how to bend the truth IF IF IF (which they most surely won't) they ask odd questions

Anchor outside the entrance to the lagoon as close to the town as possible

Excellent holding but find sand not weed

TIE EVERYTHING DOWN AS THEY ARE BLOODY THIEVES

Also tie the Ladies down as you know what the French blokes are like

Not suggesting that they are loose of course (clarity is important)

Tie dinghy up to dock

Always lock dinghy to both boat and dock

But not both together

Check in is on computer

When you enter lagoon there shallow spots so follow buoys which sometimes are in the proper location

Better to follow a deeper draft vessel

What depth do you draw

Your wind at 1800 hrs Mon 19 Jan should be 15 Kn EESE

Tues 20 Jan shld see 10 15 Kn may back a tad dropping to 10 Kn by 1800 hrs

May freshen in 12 hrs to 15 Kn

If you are lucky

Keep going

Dont turn back

If you do you wont get there

Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-18 : 20:19 UTC

LATITUDE=21 16N

LONGITUDE=37 53W

SPEED=4.5

COURSE=265

WIND DIR=E

WIND SPEED=15

WAVE_HT=1-2m

24HR MILES=103 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Great circle to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:1597/1469 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Past half way!!



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Day 14

WHALES WHALES WHALES!!!



What a day. Definitely a "best day yet" contender!



The anticipation was tangible from the start of the day, as we knew we would today pass the half way point. This was celebrated in excellent fashion with a delicious meze lunch of artichoke hearts, olives stuffed with anchovies, rolls filled with pate and gerkin and ham, cheese and chilli sauce, crisps, herring in dill, bread and salad and rum tots for the grownups (and Neptune). Delicious - thanks mum! Pudding was a celebratory box of truffles. We hadn't actually passed half way by this point however, so when the actual moment came, there were jelly meerkats to eat, courtesy of Marcus' mum and dad.



And here must come a confession, Angela. Mum sent Marcus home with a little gift to open on Christmas Day and delightedly told us all that she'd found him the perfect present: jelly meerkats! I quickly pointed out that she had just re-wrapped the kind gift you'd given us for half way and sent him back to open them in front of you. She was mortified, as she'd thought she must have found them on one of her many stocking up trips. The present was quickly aborted, and it is only now that she has allowed us to spill the beans several thousand miles away!



Half way passed and we settled back into a very stress-free day of 4.5-5 knots in light winds and small seas. I was on watch, mum had just appeared on deck and dad was checking the fishing rod when we all heard a small pwwwuuuussshhh. We looked up and there was a fin and rather a lot of body gently cruising past. Our first whale! Marcus dashed up to the cockpit too and we all watched in awe as about 3 minke whales swam alongside the boat for 5 minutes or so. They were so awesome and it really felt like they had come over to see us and find out what was going on. They were practically touching the underside of the boat - less than half a metre from the hull and slowly swimming, surfacing and then diving away. Absolutely brilliant.



Other highlights of the day include speaking to dad's parents and brother, and the Wombat (who is not in Oslo) via the satellite phone, a delicious pizza for tea and receiving Joe's third text which only arrived today (6 Copa America games rather than 4!). Thanks to YI for your blog comment and your ode, which is worth sharing here:



"Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready." (The Old Man and the Sea)



My 8-10pm watch last night was fantastic. Dad stayed up with my for an hour and we used mum's excellent stargazer app on the iPad to look at the brilliant stars. The sky was so clear that we could see many constellations and planets including the twins of Gemini (Castor and Pollux) and all of Orion, including his bow.



A near accident this morning as I went flying from one side of the boat to the other whilst preparing Marcus' breakfast of cheese and cucumber sandwiches. It could have been very nasty, but luckily I managed to not drop the bun I was putting mayonnaise on (or injure myself).



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Re: Petronella Position Report

Gidday folks

Many thx for the minor apostles sent

Poor Marcus

Who was the sod that stuffed all those wrappers in his pockets and under the pillow

Not really on, especially with fambly and all

Very impressed with your grt O route John

We just wandered vaguely toward Barbados which I believe is a tad S of Ste Marten so named because it is on the French side and you should check in there as it is free and easy

Cracked ribs

I know what they are like Gill

I cracked some (at least one more than you however many you did) at Marmaris when I fell off Justin and Helens boat after imbibing in a tad of plonk

I was attempting a flier at a stray red cat (which I admit having a penchant for in my youth) wandering along the dock and

Bugger it

Enuf said

WIND

20 Kn a tad S of E until

Mon Jan 19 when it jumps to 25

Tues Jan 20 drop to 15 20 E

Will start backing a tad to sodall N of E

WAVES

N until Sun 18 Jan 2 to 3m

EENE until further notice 2 to 3m

Tirrah

R

Day 13

"We were sailing, sailing, the wind was on our side......... but then it died. Cabin fever (aaah)". (Kermit et al., Muppet's Treasure Island, c1995).



So, less wind today. Not good for the mileage, or for our progression towards half way. But a bit less bumpy and crashy in the night maybe. Just creeping along the chart in the middle of a whole lot of blue at the moment.



Some corrections - mum has not broken her rib, it is just badly bruised and much better today. Marcus objects to being "victimised" in the role of nocturnal rustler through the hanging snack basket. This objection was noted but not upheld by other crew members when a number of empty cereal bar wrappers fell out of his pocket and were found under his pillow....



Many apologies for the lack of blog on Wednesday and late arrival on Thursday. A combination of human error (me - Jenny) and trouble with our communication links was to blame.



Not much to report really, washing some knickers/pants for everyone took mum and me about 2 hours earlier, we think we might fish tomorrow as the fridge is emptying slowly, we're yet to repeat an evening meal in 12 days - the quality of food has been excellent - and everyone is slightly loosing the plot I think.



Quote highlights to date:



Mum - yes, it's always about that time of night I end up in Marcus' bed

Mum - one can get a bit lobster-ed out



Mum is also having issues with her maths. Halfway has, at various times today, been 200 miles away, less than 100 miles away and already gone! It's actually about 80 miles away.



Dad panicked last night when he thought the rudder was grinding on it's bearings but it turned out to be the gas bottles moving slightly in their locker. Phew.



A huge public thank you to Joe Imich for buying Copa America tickets for us yesterday. You are a legend. We cannot thank you enough. Marcus has pinned the fixtures up on the wall!! Thanks too for Loz for the quiz question - we got Walsall and Accrington.



Wombat and Chris - we hope you're having a brilliant time in Oslo and we miss you!!! x



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-15 : 20:32 UTC

LATITUDE=21 51N

LONGITUDE=36 06W

SPEED=3.5

COURSE=230

WIND DIR=ENE

WIND SPEED=10-15

WAVE_HT=1-2m

24HR MILES=116 (12noon til 12noon - 25 hours as hour changed)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Great circle to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:1494/1564 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Slowly slowly...



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Re: Petronella Postion Report

Bon Bloody Jour maties

First up, Marcus; sorry to hear that you are not leaving things behind you

Speaking of which, when we have guests on board we do not tell them they cannot flush the paper down the loo

That is just a tad gross for this chap

We simply tell them that everything must be eaten prior to plopping it into the bowl

What they eat is entirely up to them

Soooo, moving along right now

As twere
Sat 17Jan late UTC 15Kn E

Will sneak up top 20Kn when you are not looking

Thats it folks

Nothing else

Luck

R

Petronella Postion Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-15 : 16:15 UTC -2

LATITUDE=22 03N

LONGITUDE=33 53W

SPEED=5.8

COURSE=270

WIND DIR=ENE

WIND SPEED=20-25

WAVE_HT=2-3m

24HR MILES=132 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Great circle to St Martin, broad stbd reach then downwind sails?

MILES DONE/TO GO:1378/1677 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Heavy blow last night, lovely sailing today



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Day 12

Current Location: Mid Atlantic

Blogger: John



So, only a couple of hundred miles to halfway. Yesterday, after two days of unsuccessful connection effort to our link with the outside world I finally found a good frequency via the Lunenberg SSB Sailmail station. Hence this 'extra' blog whilst we have better connectivity.



How has it been so far? The thing that has surprised me most is the conditions. In nearly two weeks we have seen perhaps 20 hours of sunshine. Most of the time it is grey. It's not warm either maybe because we have only come south to 22 degrees to make a good entrance for St Maarten, one of the more northerly Caribbean islands. 23 C degrees is typical as our maximum daily temperature. We are all still in full oilies on watch. For me it is warm underpants, Gill's tights, someone's thermal bottoms, a thinsulate upper body layer, two jumpers, a hat and a buff. Top that off with a good quality sailing suit, wellies and a lifejacket/harness. It takes about 5 minutes to get into this little lot.



I also expected at least some days of relative calm. Despite the fact that we left late to ensure more consistent winds I envisaged some days when we wouldn't be struggling to stand upright. Instead we are covered in bruises on bruises and two nights ago while fighting with the steering Gilly broke a rib on her left side. Very unpleasant but, you know Gilly, on she goes!! Marcus is on watch at present and Gill and I have just spent ten minutes providing him with a bowl of cereal. Everything flies around as soon as you turn your back on it. But these are the winds that P loves. She can look after us in the strongest winds and then when the time is right she kicks up her heels and off we go. Absolutely magnificent.



Nevertheless spirits are high on the good ship Petronella. Gilly's birthday surprises are an integral part of the day around 6pm and we are trying to do choir practice each evening too. Marcus and Jenny make great crew and we have all the usual little 'in' phrases of the boat. For example poor Marcus has only managed two "emotional ocean motions" so far. With no door on the heads success or failure is quickly known and acknowledged by all on board. Spare time? There is none. Minor jobs fill what is left of the day once you have kept your watches and slept. So, sorry Em for not replying to your excellent quiz questions (we do them avidly though) or for not yet starting the Gleastonites Sailors Tales.



Now that our great friends on Carpe Diem have arrived in Martinique they have joined Russell-ish and Vera in providing us with invaluable weather information. They estimate our position over the next few days and build up a day by day picture for us of what we are likely to encounter. Other than diverting this way or that a hundred miles or so though there is not much we can actually do other than prepare ourselves (for more 3-4m waves and 25-30k winds - ah, there's a surprise)!



Tomorrow or the next day we should reach halfway and the number of miles to go will become less than that completed. Then it will be less than a thousand to go, and then…..[mustn't get ahead of myself].



As we move westwards (wow, that's a big wave just come crashing into the cockpit - Marcus is wet AGAIN) it gets dark a bit later each night so that eventually we have to put our clocks back into another time zone. We are now on UTC -2 with another two changes still to come. We will end up at longitude 063 W, still 30 degrees more to go but it really feels as though we are getting somewhere now when we plot our daily position on the chart. Em has booked her flights to the British Virgin Islands and our crew are starting to think about flights to S America where they will start their new lives. The end of the start has arrived, we are in the middle and just starting to wonder about the start of the end of the current adventure.



PS - An hour after I wrote this the sun came out, the wind dropped to 20-25, we shook out a reef and everything in the world was fabulous.



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Re: Petronella Position Report

Evening all

Apologies for leaving your timestamp on

My bad. I am over here if you need me

Hope your wind isn't too bad

Me thinx it could be getting up a bit

Pending dietary discussions

You appear to be making good time N

Pls advise chge in destination

WIND

16 Jan 1800 hrs 25 Kn ENE (add 10?)

Abating midnight to 20ish

17 Jan at brekky < to 15 20 Kn

Shld be E at 1800hrs

Breeze shld soften and stay E

Will stay soft for several days

SEAS

Consistent 2 to 3 m

Shld be up the freckle until Sun morning when it will go N

Will go ENE after 6 to 12 hrs

Luck to all

R

Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-15 : 19:39 UTC

LATITUDE=21 58N

LONGITUDE=31 42W

SPEED=5.2

COURSE=270

WIND DIR=NE

WIND SPEED=15-20

WAVE_HT=2m

24HR MILES=141 (12noon til 12noon - 25 hours as hour changed)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Great circle to St Martin

MILES DONE/TO GO:1189/1807 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Getting on for half way



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Day 11

Another dull and damp day on the Atlantic with steel grey waves and heavy, intermittent squalls. Hardly the blue skies and golden beaches of which we dream! Having tried sailing with reefed genoa and reefed main, we are now sailing with double-reefed main alone which seems to give us a little more control. We make 5-5.5 knots at 270ish most of the time in 20 knot winds from the NE but are pushed 20-25 degrees to NW by the frequent wet and windy squalls of up to 35 knots (all wind speeds approximate after wind indicator gave up the ghost with a gust of 47 knots on day three).



Wet weather gear is de rigour for those on watch, as is Dick Francis on audiobook. "Turns out it was my bloody pitchfork in the bastard's chest". It may be wet and overcast, but temperatures are slowly rising. Spirits remain high.



Had another Wanda incident last night when the paddle came up AGAIN entailing another frantic scramble off the back of Petronella to reinstate using the now perfected "hang over the back of boat with boat hook" technique.



Toast, scrambled egg and smoked salmon for breakfast this morning. Thanks mum! Stores holding up well, despite Marcus' nocturnal rustlings through the snack basket.



Birthday surprises are going down well! We don't have enough data to reply individually but thank you all. Gleastonians - we are beginning our stories. Thank you for the challenge. "Lazy Susan was engaged in tender steaming intercourse with the engineer....."



On a more sombre note, we were so so sorry to hear that Symina has had to give up her attempt to cross the Atlantic. Dilek - we are all thinking about you and hope you're safe!



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-11 : 17:00 UTC

LATITUDE=21 40N

LONGITUDE=26 47W

SPEED=5.5

COURSE=265

WIND DIR=ENE

WIND SPEED=20-25

WAVE_HT=2-3m normally but some bigger. Very choppy.

24HR MILES=132.5 (12noon til 12noon)

PROPOSED_COURSE=Great circle to St Martin, but only if this is comfortable

MILES DONE/TO GO:967.5/2083 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=Wind consistently getting up at night. Bit rocky and not very comfortable. Very hard to cut dried ham leg.



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Day 9

All fine here. A slightly more laid back day today as it is pretty scuffy and everyone is tired after a bumpy night. Some exciting developments though. Firstly, we saw a bird! It was a White Tropics Bird and it was just beautiful (google it). It stayed with us for about 30 minutes over breakfast and was great to watch, skimming the waves and hovering next to the boat. Jack and Fizzy - we managed not to catch it!



We're also chomping through the miles. A new 24 hour record of 132 miles brings us near to both the 1000-mile mark and the 2000-mile to go mark. We've been under double-reefed main and very slightly-reefed genoa today in 20-25 knot winds and are steaming along at over 6 knots. The ride is NOT comfy today as the waves are big and across our westerly path.



We've also had some squalls with the wind getting up to nearly 30 knots and often a swing of 20 degrees from it's usual direction. Nothing too bad so far so hopefully it'll stay that way.



We have been asked what we do with the "poo tissue" we create so we thought we'd give a bit of a run down on waste disposal on board, with help from our "Waste Disposal Consultant" (or "Rubbish Man"), Marcus, who is in charge of bins:



Human waste - our toilet has a holding tank in which we can store this whilst in an anchorage or alike, but currently our wee and "ocean motions" go straight into the sea - sorry dolphins. We can't put paper down the loo.

Organic waste - food waste, paper, cardboard and the afore-mentioned "poo tissue" gets thrown overboard as it will all degrade quickly in the water. We call this "feeding the dolphins".

Recycleables - these are carefully washed and crushed and Marcus stores them away in a large bag to be disposed of when we reach the Caribbean

Other "true" rubbish - non-organic, non-recycleable - this gets squished and stored in double bin bags, again for disposal in the Caribbean



Other questions from our readers:



Have you caught any fish?

No not yet, we will start fishing when there is space in the fridge to receive some fish. This may be tomorrow. When fishing, we also have to stop The Toad (the electricity generator) so we can't fish all the time like we have done before. JAsk - Marcus' Tenacious D impression may be more successful with a line in the water.



Do you have a Cunningham?

WTF?! No. Does your racing yacht have solar panels? This caused great hilarity. Good question.



Following Loz's sea-sick 11 (Mark vom Bommel, Puke Chadwick), there have been a number of rounds of footballer puns. Highlights include ice-cream flavours (Scott Minto-choc-chip) and sailing words (Peter Odem-dinghy).



Thanks for the poems Phil and JAsk.



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Petronella Position Report

TIMESTAMP=2015-01-11 : 16:36 UTC

LATITUDE=21 54N

LONGITUDE=24 23W

SPEED=5

COURSE=250

WIND DIR=NE

WIND SPEED=15-20

WAVE_HT=2m

24HR MILES=140 (12noon til 12noon - this included the hour change so 25 hours in total)

PROPOSED_COURSE=255 degrees

MILES DONE/TO GO:784/2212 (12 noon)

COMMENTS=All is good



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Day 8

Swooshing along at 5.5 knots will do just nicely! Not too bumpy and the sun has been slightly stronger today which is nice. We've also removed our Cape Verdes way-point from the GPS route which immediately cut 82 miles off the "miles remaining" total making it seem like a very successful day indeed! We've decided that we're going to stay on a course of about 250 degrees and head much more directly for St Martin, unless advised otherwise by our weather routers.



It was a really nice night for watches last night, steady breeze and bright moon. Marcus in particular had a lovely 12-2am watch. When asked what he'd been up to he immediately replied "listening to the World Football Phone-In and eating Percy Pigs". Of an entire packet, won for predicting when we'd reach 749 miles to within 25 minutes, the rest of the crew saw just 3 pigs!!



Whale watching has intensified now that we've gone for more than a day without seeing any other boat on AIS. Everyone is now more concerned with wildlife spotting, with a few more Pantropical Spotted Dolphins this morning. Marcus also saw a bird (maybe a shearwater) and a bounty bar wrapper floating past.



Mum did a wash this morning and had to double-peg socks as it was so dodgy hanging them out. Dad and I also redid the ropes on Wanda to alleviate the chaffing meaning that Marcus had to hand steer for nearly 2 hours. We're really finding a rhythm now, though the days go very fast!



A mention must go to our GPS and wind indicators, which take up an inordinate amount of time, especially when you're the one on watch. Between then they show wind speed, course, speed over the ground, miles to destination, miles done and velocity made good (meaning the speed you are moving towards the final destination - not necessarily the same as the speed over the ground if you're not going in the right direction). These numbers continuously change and we've all found ourselves repeatedly doing the maths around the proportion of the distance done, how long that means we have left, how many miles we'll travel today at this speed etc. Hours of fun....



Thanks also to John for breaking the cheering news of a famous Saints victory at Old Trafford. Dussssssaaaaaaaaaannnnn Taaaaaaadddddddddiiiiicccccccc!



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