All is well on Eye Candy
In the last 24hours we have sailed 142M. The swell is 1.5M with a wind speed of 10-15K. The boat speed is has been between 4 and 7knots. Today is lovely and sunny so the dress code is either shorts or swimmers.
The highlight of the day is "we have the spinnaker up". Andrew has been itching to put it up for the past 2 days but the conditions were not quite right. Last night was a slow night with a light wind moving all over the place. This morning after breakfast our two racing sailors (A and B) decided it was time. The boat is now happily sailing with a full poled out jib and the spinnaker.
Today's background information is on Andrew's sailing life.
He started sailing at Lindisfarne Sailing Club in Hobart at age 12. In the same year he bought his first small dinghy - the sailing adventure began.
Throughout his teen years he built three 11 foot Heron dinghies for himself. In these dinghies he won the National Heron Championships three times - once in each boat. This record is still unbroken today some forty years later.
Andrew obtained a Degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked for many years as a Maintenance Engineer and Engineering Manager in heavy industry. Unlike Bronwyn, Andrew did not take on 'boating' as his profession but it certainly has been his life long passion.
He had his first off shore experience at 18 when delivering a boat from Hobart to Sydney. He raced on many occasions in Bass Strait, Port Phillip Bay and up and down the Eastern Seaboard of Australia. He was a competitor in 5 Melbourne-Hobart and 5 Sydney-Hobart races. He crewed on the second place getter in its division in the 1990 Sydney-Hobart.
When he resigned from Engineering we sought a life of Freedom and Adventure. We worked for a season on a luxury sailing vessel in the Whitsunday Is. Andrew was 1st Mate and I was the cook. During this period he passed his MED3 (Marine Engine Driver 3). He also became a HAM radio operator and a PADI Dive Master. We took on two three month crewing positions for private owners; one in Fort Lauderdale and the Bahamas, the other in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Darwin and Phuket.
Eye Candy was purchased in 2005 and Andrew has skippered her for 20,000 miles in the Med and now in the middle of the Atlantic.
As our good friend Colin said in an email this morning.
"Freedom and adventure, well no people around, so you definitely have
freedom and you are surely on a great adventure"
love Candy xx
At 10:55 AM8/01/2012 (utc) our position was 14°24.78'N 039°31.02'W
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