Last night's halfway celebrations were thoroughly enjoyed by all aboard the
good ship Tranquilizer. Early afternoon drinks and chocolates were followed
by Ninky asnd Robins' FOUR course evening meal of melon and palma ham
followed by beef stirfry and then Quadruple chocolate cake with added Mars
bar and Milky Way bar alla Rich followed by Metaxa brandy Christmas cake
made by Ros in England before Neil's departrure.( The crew send their
grateful thanks,Ros ) Lee was,as usual,NOT sure if he liked the Christmas
cake and demanded second helpings. He's also demanded it again at lunchtime
today and again at mid.afternoon tea. We managed to also get through half a
case of beer ( thanks Ninky for donating a can to Neil and Lee and Scott for
donating a can to Robin and Rich. Along with the meal we had a large bottle
of fizzy Rose which no one wanted to donate to anyone
else ,especially Ninky who remonstrated with Neil and Lee for their
selfishness. The whole evening was finished off with a romantic starwatch on
the patio with a cup of tea. Luverly!
The night brought us ,once again, to a becalming party on Neil and Scotts
watch. We had some rain which dried as it landed and hten the wind dropped
completely and for the first time the speed log read 000. We then bobbed
about until Tranquilizer had done a 180 degree turn and left us facing East
again. That's towards where we'd come from for you lot at home.Neil and
Scott then frantically rocked the wheel to get us back in the right
direction before Rich and Lee came on watch and derided them for their
inability to go in a straight line.
This morning saw another spectacular dawn ( no , not the one from the chippy
down the road) with wind finally in the right direction and building. We
were in for another sweltering day. Lunch of sausage ,Brie and tomato salad
was produced by Lee who thought we ought to finish with cake again. At the
mention of cake Ninky approached Rich regarding the secret stash of cake and
sweets that had been secured in his cabin in Las Palmas. Now the skippers
cabin is NOT a place one would normally want to go aboard a small yacht but
today this paid dividends as the stash turned out to be much larger than
anyone remembered and a scene reminiscent of Alladins cave ensued. Of course
Ninky and Robin were at the centre of the spectacle andf Robin hgad to be
sent to bed until he'd calmed down. It's getting to the stage where just the
sight of the sweets gives him a " sugar rush ".
Before lunch Rich brought the sextant out and gave an introduction to
celestial navigation. Robin wants to know why it's so warm now we're in the
Arctic circle.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with Ninky,Lee,Neil and Scott putting
together another 20 quiz questions for the Phoebe B creworryingly one of
which was " which of Tranquilizer crew was questioned by the police
regarding a serial killer?")
Tonight's delight,alla Rich, is going to be Dorado fried in batter servrd
with a savoury rice and as Lee doesn't like fish he's requested cake with
his rice instead.
We've just gone onto a broad reach as the wind's come around a little but
we're still doing 7 knots and feeling quite positive that this should be how
it stays now until Rodney Bay and the rum punch.Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Neil

Speed is now hitting 9 knots