Firefly, 3 December 2001: Today I have made a new cockpit light out of an old baseball hat, wire coathanger (what else) and the guts from an old 12 Volt lamp. I have been mocked mercilessly for this but we’ll see how it looks later
Firefly, 3 December 2001
21° 16 N 36° 46 W
Distance to St Lucia 1,447 nm
So far a much better sailing day today and as the sea is down a lot, about 2m, easier sailing too. We are currently sailing at 7-8 knots under full sail in 16-20 knots of breeze and Firefly is loving it.
We’re still well north and intend to stay here at least for the next 24 hours as the winds are forecast to be 5-10 knots stronger than a few degrees south. With the wind in the ENE we are sailing at about 20 degrees above the course to St Lucia and if, as forecast, it comes into the east then we’ll have to gybe south. Maybe, one day, we’ll find the real Trades rather than these fluctuating Azores High breezes.
Our formal ‘day’ begins with happy hour which is a moveable feast starting at any time between 1700 and 1800 depending (this is the theory anyway) on where we are in a time zone. We are putting our watches back an hour for every 15 degrees of longitude so are currently GMT 2 hours. After happy hour we have dinner, eaten in the dark as sundown is around 1800.
Today I have made a new cockpit light out of an old baseball hat, wire coathanger (what else) and the guts from an old 12 Volt lamp. I have been mocked mercilessly for this but we’ll see how it looks later.
We are now 50 miles short of the half way point which at the present rate of progress we’ll reach at midnight GMT tonight.
For more about the travails of Firefly and her crew in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), click the link on the ybw or Yachting World homepages.