The biggest swimming pool in the world...

DAY 10 - 4th December 2007

Position: 18º 39' N 41º 43' W
Bearing: 255º
Distance to go: 1139 Nm

I'm beginning to think that the weather knows when we're on watch! We had been on deck from 02.00 when a huge squall arrived scattering us onto the foredeck for reefing lines. Our well-oiled teamwork became very damp teamwork as horizontal rain encouraged us to work even quicker. It was nice of Julian to offer words of encouragement from the dry of the companionway, and after about 10 minutes he suggested we hove to as the wind couldn't decide which point of the compass it liked best. The squall passed after about 15 minutes leaving us in calm waters and little wind. The racket had woken Kate up too and we were very thankfull for the hot coffee she whipped up.

It wasn't hard to fall asleep at 06.00 when we finished our watch, but we were woken by more noise at 08.30. This time is was laughter rather than wind. The sun was up and the sea was calm. Time for swimming! I had been hoping that we would get the chance to have a swim so it didn't take much encouragement to get me in the water. The talk of sharks wasn't too encouraging though. We streamed a fender aft so we could all hold on, but it was a special experience to let go for a while and know that I was swimming freely in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course the other bonus was that it saved a shower.

With the winds staying relatively light into the afternoon we put the spinnaker up for the second time. Under the experienced eye of Dave, our watch leader we were trimmers, grinders and helms. Considering most of us hadn't done much spinnaker sailing before we made some good progress and learnt loads.

In the early evening we think we saw a racing class boat on our port beam just on the horizon. If so, we should be really pleased with our progress and how we have all sailed the boat to its maximum. Tomorrow's position reporting should reveal if we were right.

For now, it's time to hope for the end of this trough and the trade winds to pick up back to 15-20 knots.


You can track the progress of Northern Child, which is updated every hour, on their web site at: northernchild.com