Saturday 5th December
Race Day 13
It was another hot and humid day out in the Atlantic, that started with freshly baked bread and an amazing fruit salad….but our supply of fresh fruit and veg is now nearly depleted. Spirits however are still high and there has been a change in mood as everyone is getting excited about the fast approaching finish line and the chance to party with more than a few rum and cokes!
In our daily lunch time progress update from Ricky, we heard the bad news that it was unlikely that we would be able to catch up to Challenger 1. We are however still in the race and are trying to ensure that we maintain our steady progress in order to increase our ranking.
Trigonometry and Pythagoras
Dave was then again back in teacher mode and gave some of the crew a beginner’s guide to celestial navigation. The students listened with anticipation and there were no comments on the dodgy sketches that were being presented to them, however, there were numerous glazed looks as soon as trigonometry and Pythagoras were brought into the mix.
As the crow flies
The one bit of interesting trivia that emerged was about crows; apparently crows don’t like to fly over water and so sailors used to take them out in their ships and store them in cages at the top of the mast, hence the term “crow’s nest”. If the ship lost sight of land, the crows would be released and would fly back to shore using the shortest route. Hence the term “as the crow flies”.
With the lesson over it was time for some relaxation, Begonia sat at the stern and got her legs dunked in the warm Atlantic Ocean numerous times, the human Cluedo game continued with a few more of the crew being killed off….it seems like Kirstie will have nobody left on her watch soon!! The sunset also provided more photo opportunities with a number of group shots at the bow. Dave was then again back on form as he lobbed empty glass jars into the ocean declaring that he was pretending they were petrol bombs…..very worrying considering he used to be in the police force! (For anyone worried about pollution, the glass disintegrates back to sand with the pressure of the ocean)
Jenny has decided that she doesn’t want to go to St Lucia any more, since she’s having such a good time in the Atlantic. Unsurprisingly the rest of the crew won’t agree to slow the boat down.
The onboard Cluedo continues with Mark ‘accidentally’ murdering Mike using the lethal “death by teacup” during the bleak hours of the graveyard shift.
Hope everyone back home is doing well and we will be sure to get in touch once we are back on grid in St Lucia.
Dave’s joke of the day:
How do you deal with an angry Welsh cheese? Caerphilly.
Firas and Daniel
Lots of love to the Canavan. Miss you a lot. Looking forward to see my Bday presents xx (Lucia)
A word from Skipper Ricky
It seems not so long ago that we were heading out to the start line, full of anticipation and excitement in Las Palmas. Now less than two weeks later we are full of anticipation and excitement as the finishing line looms ever closer. 315 Nm to go. So Sunday midnight local time seems like a good guess at our arrival time, let’s hope it isn’t an early closing night for the bars in Rodney Bay.
Gotta hand it to Challenger 1
We have had some excellent sailing. Some not so excellent racing as we lost early miles to our rival Challenger 1 and then were unable to claw them back even with our cunning plan. Actually a plan which relies on the rivals sailing into a wind hole is a bit more desperate than cunning. So well raced Challenger 1, you have beaten us hands down. Here’s hoping that you had just as much fun and happiness as we had on Challenger 3. It has been a blast and the race lived up to everything which we expected of it, fast downwind sailing in warm t-shirt and shorts weather with spectacular night skies, sunsets and sunrises, plus some playful dolphin wildlife thrown in for good measure.
Here’s looking forward to a great arrival party and some onward island hopping up to Antigua.
Ricky (skipper)
