Day 17 – Monday

Anybody out there? It seems like we have been travelling for months now with no end in sight. The days are starting to blur now even for me who is writing a daily account. We are in our own cocoon. The beauty of this world out here is the isolation. You realize your significance in the world and are affected by very little other than Hot Ice, the weather, the ocean and the 7 people on board. We do have communications which consist of a satellite phone and internet. It’s surprisingly reliable but expensive. So large data files and voice calls should be avoided. We do have VHF but that’s for close proximity communication or relayed messages in emergency.

Thanks to everyone that’s been in touch and posted comments on the blog, I certainly appreciate the outside contact. I am not sure how many of you have supported my cause but a big Thanks to those that have, and come on the rest of you I challenge you to “Imagine” the difference you can make!

“We are on the road to nowhere!” It’s amazing that our life and emotions, more importantly, at the moment revolves around the changes in the wind.

Yet again yesterday the wind stopped blowing and we struggled on for the most of the day. As the day went on so did the emotions of the crew change.

Our chances of making the 31st cut off is getting slimmer and slimmer. So too is the extra few holiday days in Brazil that most of us planned. Sorry Shaun, no polka dot bikinis! We are also quite aware that we have no engine to use in order to get us there quicker, should we realize it’s impossible to make the cut off time. Frustration is written over every ones faces.

After all it’s not only about crossing the Atlantic, we want to finish the race in time. Come on Wind!

Today Mark took us for the tour of Hot ice from bow to stern discussion the naming convention of everything. You will have noticed, the non sailors out there, that things are named differently from their conventional name. This is to ensure a common language among sailors in order to communicate instruction effectively on board. Imagine the skipper shouting “pull that rope”. There are many ropes on a yacht and you would be very unsure which one he was talking about. As we have learned on this trip, pulling or letting go the wrong one can be very dangerous resulting in damage to the crew or your boat. He also explained subtleties in their use and best way to set them up. Everyone found this very useful and it provide something different to do.

Upon changing tack (direction), which involves moving the sails from one side to the other we realized that we now have a damaged spinnaker pole.

The cringle which attaches the pole to the mast is bent and as a result jams when putting it up or down. We are using it to hold out the genoa when we “wing”. It’s not really designed for this purpose but without a spinnaker and the wind in the current direction we have no choice at times.

Let’s hope it holds and does not snap!

Jean made Spanish dishes for lunch. A Moje de Tomate and Jabon de ballet (Sorry to my Spanish friends if this is spelt wrong) for all the connoisseurs. Kevin and Shaun teamed up for dinner to make their secret chicken curry again.

At 6.30am Kevin did his daily ritual of playing T-Rex. I now find myself singing a long and Mike who hates loud music, is now also. If you can’t beat them join them as they say. I really wish Kevin would find a better song though J From our Atlantic outpost … till tomorrow.

Position [20 08 S 13 24 W ]

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