![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/arc-day-14.png\")
<\/h4>\nA rollercoaster of a time<\/h4>\n
I lost my mother 26 years ago to the day. I was already grown, with a wife, and children of my own, but at age 59 we lost her way too early. My oldest barely remembers my Mum and her younger brother has no recollect of her but my Mum\u2019s eyes bubbled over at the sight of my kids. Especially Max, as she was the first, and only girl in the family. My Mum doted over the kids, she knitted and crocheted clothes for them and showered them with toys, some of which drove me crazy.<\/p>\n
In a flap<\/h4>\n
My most dreaded present became one of my daughter\u2019s favourite toys. Max was probably 4 when she received a windup roller coaster whose cars were filled with penguins. The penguins would go round and round in circles producing a mechanical sound loud enough to wake the dead. Max probably doesn\u2019t remember that toy, but to this day she still adores penguins. The day that those dreaded penguins finally disappeared from our apartment brought much appreciated peace and quiet.<\/p>\n
My Mum missed out on watching my children grow up and pass through all their trials and tribulations. She barely finished High School and probably could not add two plus two, I\u2019m sure my dad balanced the check book at home. I\u2019m sure she still would have been a valuable child rearing resource to my wife and I. What my Mum lacked in book knowledge she more than made up for in common sense and social skills. I like to think that she is watching over Max and Simon from above and is quite proud of them, even when the have strayed off the straight and narrow.<\/p>\n
Love and best wishes to all the mothers out there, both current and past. I need to sign off and light the stoves, I have a hungry crew of 14 to feed.<\/p>\n
Gary<\/p>\n
Skippers Log<\/h4>\n
CF540 ARC 2019 CH2 Daily Report 2019-12-07<\/p>\n
Date : Saturday 7 December 2019
\nTime : 12:00 GMT (10am Boat Time)
\nPosition : 17.38\u2019N\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 47.47\u2019 W
\nPosition : sandwiched between boats \u2018Emily Morgan\u2019 and \u2018Fred\u2019 180Nm North-North-East of \u2018Researcher Ridge\u2019
\nDestination : Rodney Bay, St Lucia
\nETA : 2105 Dec 10 (GPS
\nETA Kirstie: 0900 Dec 11 (UT)
\nDTF : 791 Distance Run 2188
\n24 Hour Run : 209 DMG in 24 Hours : 197
\nRequired Knots for 15 Dec : 4.6, Arrival at 8 Knots : 11 Dec
\nWind : TWD : 070 TWS : 16.0
\nGybe Angles (M) 232 262 292
\nSailplan : Full Main, Yankee 1, Staysail
\nPOB : 14, all in good health and happy
\nToday on Challenger 2 :
\nBreakfast : Garys chorizo Spanish omelets\u00a0 Lunch : Chorizo Spanish Omlete, coleslaw and tapas
\nDinner : American Pork Surprise
\nMusic : Just the voices going around in my head\u2026
\nFishing Score : 27\/11 1x Large Dorado \u2013 Fishing suspended<\/p>\n
![\"Spanish](\"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/spanish-omelette.jpg\" "\\"spanish-omelette\\"")
Tonight;s culinary delight<\/p><\/div>\n
Notes and comments:<\/h4>\n
A good nights sail in warm conditions with no squalls and no gybes.<\/p>\n
Ricky, Skipper<\/p>\n
A nice chat with sailing yacht Emily Morgan this morning, they seem in good spirits and are keen to meet up on land for a rum and coke!<\/p>\n
Kirstie, Mate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ode to my Mum from Mothers Watch It was just past midnight when I glanced at our logbook before tucking into my bunk and noted that we had sailed 2,080 nautical miles with only 892 miles till the finish in St Lucia. I left word with the crew on watch to be woken promptly at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[162,350],"tags":[506,508,406,135,382,165,152,463,173,145],"class_list":["post-5004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arc","category-atlantic-adventures","tag-arc-2019","tag-arc-rally-2019","tag-atlantc-sailing","tag-atlantic","tag-atlantic-adventure","tag-atlantic-crossing","tag-challenger-2","tag-fcs","tag-first-class-sailing","tag-ricky-chalmers"],"views":1876,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5004"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5008,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5004\/revisions\/5008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasssailing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}