sailing
Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Thu 24 Nov 2005 21:35
All at Sea: 24th November
2005
At long last we are
sailing, very calmly, south. It is dark, I am alone on watch, writing this
email, and listening to Herb, a radio weather router, on the SSB
radio. When yachts call in with their position, he knows what their
weather is, and tells them what to expect over the next few days. There is
a tropical storm in the Atlantic which has just developed into a
hurricane. Yachts are calling in saying, 'This is Challenger, we are
getting pretty beat up in 50 knots of storm'. We are way way east of
it, and have near perfect winds ourselves at the moment of about fifteen
knots. Unfortunately it might cause problems for ARC boats all heading
west....
The girls did not want
to leave on a long passage, and Mimi has been crying and
getting sick, but is now
happily watching a DVD having eaten a bag of crisps.
Otti is asleep, Steve
is trying to get settled, and Chris is napping in the focsle.
We have just eaten a big
chicken stew for supper, and a cabbage. I am glad to be rolling
through the night away from Tenerife, but don't know what it will be like to be
on the boat for a whole week, which is how long it will take if we do well all
the way.
I do know that it is
absolutely BRILLIANT having the SSB, being able to
listen to all the other boats, and hear weather, is magic. We will
try and start a kids net tomorrow, and get all the boat kids to have a natter in
the morning.
Chris is very releived to
at last be off, as he has found it quite stressfull, waiting for the right
sailing weather, in the face of hoards of boats which left in unfavorable winds,
and then paid the price. Some had to motor for days, others battle
headwinds, or even turn back. All he has to do now is sail, as the
dye is cast.