Course 270 degrees
Speed 7.2 knots
Wind East 20 knots
Distance in last 24 hours 175 miles
It's just incredible how fast the last week has gone; it only feels like yesterday that we were mid Atlantic and now we should arrive in Barbados tomorrow morning - which will be 16 days and a few hours- we would certainly have taken that the day we left La Gomera. We got quite emotional talking to the OCC radio net this morning, as the boats in the Caribbean sent nice messages to us for our landfall and we don't even know those people - however they all know how it feels to be approaching land after a long passage. The Ocean Cruising Club has played a really special part in this trip; introducing us to great people, radio contact and information - just brilliant.
Today we are still sailing pretty fast in 20 knots from the East, under mainly grey skies with a few squalls around. Yesterday we had a mixed bag of sun and rain. We had some fun too when we realised we were making on the yacht Swiss Yacht Anita, we had a chat with them on the VHF and then stalked each other down then had a 'sail past' about an hour before dark. We took some great photos of them and exchanged email addresses - they are off to St Vincent but maybe we will catch up with them in the Caribbean somewhere.
So today is all about getting prepared for landfall; we have written a checklist and are working through it. As we are likely to arrive before it gets light we need to be especially organised and are trying to get in a position to sail comfortably to our waypoint without the spinnaker pole, so we can drop it and stow the maze of lines we have securing it, before dark tonight. We also need to do engine checks, clear our anchor locker of fuel cans, double check all waypoints, get big spot lights ready and hoist flags. A bit of extra sleep today would also be good as I think we will both be up most of the night.
Less than 100 miles to Barbados…… maybe we will get to see a glimpse of it before dark.
I hope my next update will be from a nice calm anchorage - wish us luck, this is the hardest bit!
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| Yacht Anita out in the ocean..... |
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| Anita Rolling along |
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| Where did she go? |
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| Watch out Anita there's something behind you |
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| See ya guys! |
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