Tuesday 30 November 2004

+25C and humid. It has been difficult sleeping at night. We are not complaining, this is what we asked for. Today’s highlight was our sighting of whales, passing within 50 meters of the boat. Just to make the day a little more exciting for the captian, our generator experienced some minor problems, which he managed to fix. 24-hour sailing 165 miles

Wednesday 1 December 2004

It is weird to wake up in December in the middle of the Atlantic. No signs of elves or Santa Claus. The weather was hot as usual and the wind was a good 9-12 mps. The whole day was nice and quiet, spent mostly sun bathing. 24-hour sailing, 175 miles

Thursday 2 December 2004

Rather here than in the office! The crew seem content, no signs of a mutiny so far, the crew appearing still pleased with captain’s performance. However the crew has signaled their curiousity as to why we keep heading south, since St. Lucia is to the west. In the afternoon the captain decided to change our course in a more westerly approach. 24-hour sailing, 145 miles

Friday 3 December 2004

Today was the fifth consecutive day during which we have seen no other boats. We saw a couple of tankers, but apart from that we’re alone at sea. Since our team is getting along very well, there is not a dull moment onboard. Today was full of celebrations. 7.30 am, Bach helped us toast the fact that we had only 1000 miles to go. Just before noon when we had a catch. Make was in charge of fishing. Usually fish rise towards the surface at some point, but not this one. This fish fought fiercely for its life, taking an hour and a half to beat the beast. We waited for another half an hour before daring to lift it on the boat. Our catch was a sword fish, two meters in length and a worthy opponent! It wasn’t the easiest task to get it on the board. This will feed us for next 3-4 days. ETA is next Thursday, but before that we will celebrate the Finnish Independence Day and Heikki’s 44-birthday. 24-hour sailing 169 miles