All is well on Eye Candy
In the last 24 hours we have sailed 137NM. All other conditions are the same as yesterday. This is our 5th day under spinnaker. Part of Andrew's daily maintenance check now included checking the halyard and fitting for possible wear due to sailing on the same angle for so long - not that we are complaining!
The highlight of the day is we have completed two thirds of the trip. We currently have 636 miles to go to Barbados.
Today's background information is on Clare's sailing experience.
Unlike Andrew and Bronwyn who have been sailing since childhood, I started sailing at age 48. I started on Colin and Denise's race boat competing in the winter series racing around buoys in Sydney Harbour. I couldn't understand a word of the conversations with terms like kickers, toppers, tweakers, uphauls, dip pole jibes. These are a few from my earliest memory. However, I did understand "duck or you'll get hit by the boom" and "don't throw up to windward or you'll wear it".
My first offshore experience was delivering Col's boat back from Coff Harbour to Sydney. On this two night trip I threw up fourteen times. One of the more experienced sailors on the boat said "don't worry Clare when I first did this trip I threw up 19 times - you have five to go". Obvious question -"Why did I go back for more?" I guess it was being part of the exhilaration of racing, the laughter, the shouting, the camaraderie, great friendships and my curiosity.
I took some courses with a Sailing School to fast track my learning. For the next seven years I raced in the winter series on the Harbour. My little moment of glory was crewing on the winning boat one year as pit chick. I did a number of offshore races in the summer months. My biggest offshore race was Sydney-Southport (380 miles) and my longest time on Col's boat was six weeks cruising to and from and competing in the Hamilton Island Race week. By this time I had overcome sea sickness and could understand the sailing conversations and important questions like "who's for a black tea" which meant "who wants a Bundy rum and coke?"
Since retiring from full time work in 2003, I have embarked on the same sailing adventures as Andrew and now I am crossing the Atlantic. Do I consider myself a sailor? NO! But I'm having heaps of fun.
Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A,B,C
At 2:35 PM12/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°46.72'N 048°47.68'W
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