Dining in speed and style on Spirit

Thursday, 27 May 2004

Outside dining in the covered area of the cockpit

“Another sunny day here and Peter is very excited that we have had a 249 mile day in the last 24 hours. Not too shabby considering we're still cruising pretty comfortably, and sat down to a good dinner at the saloon table last night at 13 knots. Westy saw the best speed last night - 16.6 knots. Having a canting keel is fantastic, in the squalls last night all we needed to do was put the keel out to windward and enjoy the ride! “ (Note from Ed. It looks like they’re cruising the boat conventionally with the keel in the middle and still averaging more than 10 kts!) “Peter took a little convincing that it was the way to go, but got the hang of it pretty quickly when he saw the speed readout! When it calmed down again, its only a few moments until its centred again and certainly easier than conventional trimming.” And the latest update from Liz on their impending arrival in Rarotonga “Rarotonga appeared with the sunrise this morning. Westy woke us all up with a cup of tea to see the show. Its great to see such a little island in the middle of the ocean. The water is glassy so we've had to motor for the last few hours, but have been sailing well for the last couple of days despite the weather forecast via Maxsea telling us there would be no wind. Westy has a laptop and a camera full of photos (though he's taken fewer pics of the sunrises and sunsets than the rest of us, there's been camera and video fever twice a day whenever the sky has been clear). We've travelled only about 1765 miles for a straight-line distance of 1600, the winds have been good. Average speed has been fantastic, over 9 knots for the whole trip. We're all looking forward to being on land again, if only for a day or two and Westy is glad that he has arrived in time for his flight to the UK. He leaves at 11pm tonight, good timing! More later, we should be in Rarotonga for breakfast. Liz”

Email this page to a friend