Ah Saturday, our original flights home are tomorrow, Sunday the 12th. We still have about 500 miles to go.

Woke up at first light to see if we could carry the large spinnaker, and yes we can. Pulled the big-un out of the bow, and started inspecting the lines and noticed that one of the shackles that goes at the top of the spinnaker sock had gone awol. Unpack the bag looking for the needle in the spinnaker to no avail. This shackle is all of about a 1/2 inch – nothing else on this boat is remotely that small, we have 3 or 4 inch everything to support these loads. Looking everywhere for a bolt or screw that we can use (takes an hour or more), we finally settle on a cotter pin, bent to lock in the pulley that raises and lowers the spinnaker sock.

The hoist goes without issues, Christine driving in to the wind, me pulling on the sock on the foredeck, and Marvin minding the sheets in the aft. And just like that we are making good time again.

Breakfast of cereal and juice, nothing fancy after a spinnaker hoist, but knowing that we’ll have to have lunch after cereal for breakfast. I hardly call cereal a meal.

With the nice day, I took the wet dead spinnaker out of the bag to dry out and inspect the damage. The sail is shapped like an “A” complete with the cross bar in the “A” the sail ripped above the crossbar all the way down to the bottom of the A’s feet. We’ll see if they want to repair the 10 year old mold smelling spinnaker or suggest a full replacement at a sail loft in St. Lucia. Either way a couple of lessons learned, let go when it tries to rip the rope out of your hand, when Christine says we need to do something, do it. *smile* (Some might think I should have learned this already)

Cracking along @ 9-13 knots depending on waves we watch the wind speed intently when on watch, the winds are forecast to go light on us, and we don’t want to injure this soldier as well.

Some pita sandwiches complete with jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, and this wonderful English cheddar that Ron found in Gibraltar.

We has used a lot of electricity running Auto and Radar all night but waited till my shift to start the Generator to make some electricity and make some fresh water. Took about 5 hours on the Honda to top us back up, noisy little bugger but still better than running the big diesel engines.

The water maker makes water at about 16 gallons an hour, so to fill our 80 gallon tanks it runs quite a while. It takes the fresh sea water and pumps it through a membrane that is so fine only water gets through, the salt and other impurities can’t pass through the membrane. I forget the rate exactly but it has to pump several gallons through to get a cup of fresh water. We cook, drink, bath with this water and no one has gone mad cow yet, so it can’t be all bad.

Christine’s was on watch when the limits for the spinnaker were starting to broach. Executive decision to take down the spinnaker was hard as they apparent wind was just over 15k, but we have more slow days ahead. Dropped the spinnaker without issues.

I took the opportunity to explore sailing with a little main and jib. Triple reefed the main, so it was pretty small. Then pulled out the jib, not going to win any races that way. probably 1 knot slower than jib alone as the main sort of blocked the wind to the jib, on this deep reach. Didn’t get a chance to really try to tweak it as the crew looked real disappointed in going from 10+ knots to 5 knots. Back under jib alone still doing 5 knots, but with bursts to 7 over the waves – I’m not convinced yet that jib alone is faster.

Peroggi for dinner, basically a polish dish that resembles ravioli with sautéed onions and mushrooms in a butter sauce. Wasn’t sure how the crew would like it, but it was gone in a flash.

Beautiful night, little sticky tho, 1/4 moon in the sky shimmering over the water, scattered clouds to reflect the moon light and ghosting along at 5-7 knots. Might watch a movie on the iTouch to pass the time on to night. If we were racing we’d be raising the spinnaker now, as the conditions are great right now, relatively flat ocean and winds just under 20 knots.

Crew is doing well, predictions are being made as to the land fall day, Wednesday seems to be the odds favorite. Sun is hot, getting a tan, needed shade after my watch. Supposedly we somewhere in the mix of the ARC boats with about 40% behind us, but haven’t seen another sailing boat in more than a week, the report is that there are at least 2 boats within 100 miles of us.

Course over ground: 251 Speed over ground: 6.0kn Total miles through water: 351 Miles to destination: 505 kn (as a crow).

Today was a beautiful day with smaller waves and lighter wind so the large kite went up – I decided to name her Big, Beautiful Betsy.  Not sure why, but my days seem so much nicer to chat with her.  I get up and greet her, tell her to stay full and thank her for carrying our boat miles across the ocean.  Now I see how Tom Hanks talked to “Wilson” while he was stuck on an island by himself – you have to create a friend that will help you through your days.  I promise I am not losing my mind, but must admit, it helps J

Today I decided to inventory the port side, which was limited as the boys were still housed there.  I went through our 75+ flags, 100+ charts, floor board storage, hall cupboards, and office.  I alphabetized everything (yes, I know I am a type A anal retentive nerd).

I keep adding to my donated list, must have list, items needed list, and want list each day. I am sure I will have to prioritize each list, but what fun is that.  My heart knows I will get some décor, even though not needed, plate ware, flat ware, and glasses (hopefully with our boat name on it).  After all, she is like a 2^nd home and as Matt said, “you have to have a couch in each home”. I am sure that does not apply to blow dryers, microwaves, or blenders J

It was a long day today, so I hit the hay early and tried to catch up on some much needed sleep – but alas, sleep eluded me.  Tonight was the first time in 18 nights that I did not want to get up for my night shift.  I struggled to get up, but I did it. I walked around a lot, snacked, drank a sprite & sang along to my songs – it was a long shift.  Only 539 miles to go

This is about the end of our planned trip, we should be there by now according to best laid plans. Course you can see that we are still 650 miles away, and not heading exactly south toward St Lucia as the crow flies. The waves and wind are not cooperating.

Oh what a night and day a few minutes make.

Mother Nature sneezed last night then got so upset she cried all night and day.

I signed off, after calling yesterday boring, to go to sleep. Christine wakes me and says the winds are too high, I ask about apparent wind on the spinnaker and its well below the 15kn guideline we set. So we wait that one out, the next time she wakes me up, its now blowing 28kn and with a 18kn on the sail. Okay now its time for action of some sorts. Take a look at the radar and a whole big storm is behind this one we are in now, really time to do something. Spinnaker is still holding strong, the tape is doing its job and its flying well, but in some stronger winds than we would like. I start the engines, also a sign to the crew that they are needed, to let them warm up for some action. Within 30 seconds the spinnaker collapses and refills and continues to fly. Now really time to get crew up to take it down. Ask Christine to make sure that Marvin and Ron are on the move, and no sooner finish that sentence. Mother Nature pealed the center right out of the kite, like it was a perforated cutout in a childs book. All that was left was an empty triangle windo with about 2 inch strips along all the boarders, and all the material hanging down below. The tape repair had held but the seams on the sides gave out, and now its under the boat. I yelled to make sure the engines were in neutral, as I ran forward to pull the sail out of the water, or what I could of it. Then Ron made it forward to help followed by Marvin. The sail only came so far,it was stuck on the bow, and under the boat. Since everyone was pulling at the sail, I went and released the halyard and sheets to bring the sock and swivel back down to the boat. After lots of trial and error we were able to pull the right part of the sail and get it on board, took like 20mins but we have all the pieces. And just like that we are back under sail under jib alone and doing 8kts.

Awake, Marvin took the last mins of Christine’s shift in the rain, and the weather hasn’t let up since.

Ron cooked an italian breakfast, of eggs and bacon – we have lots of eggs left.

We have been rocking to all songs that contain “rain” in the title, so much so that when “It raining men” came on, I couldn’t help from showing my white boy moves. 15 foot seas, are higher than the reefing points on the jib, and overhead when standing at the highest point on the stern. They make Christine a little nervous, but her vulcan death grip is keeping her on board, after about 20mins she was able to relax however and have dinner out at the helm position in the rain. Chicken noodle soup does warm the soul.

There is starging to be some room in the fridge and freezer for more goodies, but there is no store in sight. Not time to get creative with meals yet as we still have lots of planned meals and staples onboard.

Crew is anxious, and wondering where todays weather came from, 39kt of wind, sideways rain, and huge seas came from – but we all rolled with it (literally) and are still rolling along. Also worried about setting foot on solid ground for the first time in 3 weeks. There are going to be lots of funny walking folks in St Lucia, not sure but I bet that island is a floater.

Course over ground: 275 Speed over ground: 6.1kn Total miles through water: 150 (got reset) Miles to destination: 663 kn (as a crow).