2 August 1400UT Gibraltar 339 miles
Yesterday gave us another good day in terms of mileage with 135 under the
bow.
At the moment we have maintained the medium to strong northerlies and are
making good progress straight for Gibraltar. We have decided to miss out on
Cape St Vincent because our course was south and that would have given us an
unnecessary dog-leg to the north. Wind is anywhere between 12 and 25 knots
so we are playing with sails quite a bit and, in fact, more than at any time
on the trip so far I think.
Life below is a little bouncy and we have been reminded that, despite our
nice calm couple of days, the Atlantic is in charge here and we always have
to be ready to respond appropriately. Still we are fine, pretty well rested
and still eating so it can't be that bad.
Our current patch of sea is a popular one with 4 ships within a range of 10
miles from us. This was inevitable as we approached Gibraltar but we have
gone from absolutely nothing to this in a very short space of time. At least
it makes watchkeeping more interesting!
We still hope to be passing through the Straits on either Tuesday or
Wednesday morning with an eta in Guardamar on Friday at some stage, probably
afternoon. This, I discover, is now verging on critical because we don't
have a lot of gas and, even more worryingly, Andy is on his last few packets
of cigarettes. He has assured me he is taking it easy and trying to ration
himself. I hope so because if he runs out, I'll be in the liferaft!
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