At last the day we’ve been waiting for, of glorious sunshine, + beautiful smooth sailing. For just about the first time, we could all just laze about in the cockpit + watch the world go by. J + A don’t like anyone venturing outside, unfortunately, so we couldn’t get put from under the canopy + into the sun, but it was still pleasant enough. According to the reckonings of our navigators, ie everyone except me, we’re not moving along too fast, which is a drag. One accepts that this is not a fast-moving mode of transport, but it would be good to get to the Galapagos. There, Val + I are hoping to remedy, to some extent, our second grievance, which is that we don’t get enough to eat. J + A do without breakfast altogether, which means we do too, + as a rule, the other meals are far from ample. Obviously, we can’t load the boat with our own stores, but we are hoping to be able to buy a few little goodies to help us thro’ the day – chocolate, biscuits, fruit. Other than that, life continues to be easy. We aren’t called upon to do very much. In fact, Alma can be very annoying in this respect, taking upon herself jealously a no. of tasks, not all of which is she the most fitted to do. She guards the fishing rod from all others… + hasn’t yet been able to pull in a single fish. Ah well. I shouldn’t get too pompous, since I got myself in a horrible mess while on watch. Jack told me to use the autopilot to keep us close to the wind, +, lacking proper instruction, I used too heavy a hand on the blasted thing (we call it Simon) + managed to turn us completely round, with sails flapping + everything. J + A, both naked, or nearly so, had to come + rescue me. They were fairly forgiving too – well, Simon was to blame as well.
Evidence that we are not moving as fast as we ought – the projected time from Panama to the Galapagos is supposed to be about nine days, and it is clear that we are going to exceed that comfortably. The worst aspect of which, from a personal point of view, is that it costs us money, and money that we can ill afford. Still, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it… apart from complain in the diary.
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