Diana: We’re nearly home

The anticipation is building as we sighted land today.  We met calm waters as we cruised past Lizard point and kindly delivered some tea bags to Isis as they had ran out.  I should have checked our coffee supply as we had ran out.  We should have negotiated an exchange of coffee for tea.

We had a mixture of conditions today and used both engine and sail.  Later in the evening the wind averaged 17 knots and we managed to keep steady at 8.5 knots.

Mobile phones started to receive signals late morning and lots of people started to make calls to their loved ones.  Many relatives are meeting the crew in Portsmouth and everyone is anxious to know our expected ETA.  Pete must be sick and tired of being asked but he kept his patience with us all.

The English coast welcomed us with an amazing sunset.  The sun was perfectly clear and round and a beautiful bright red.   It was a gorgeous sight to watch slowly disappear into the water.

This is the last blog from Spirit of Diana so thank you for reading and sending your messages to the crew.

Take care all and maybe I’ll meet some of you at the dock for a beer.

Diana: Cake at Last

What a wonderful day for sailing but a disastrous start for me. I knew it was going wrong after my morning coffee ended up all over the deck. Then I tried to take a yogurt from one of the pockets and the lid came off covering my oily’s and the boat in stawberry yogurt. The downill boys thought this was hilarious and came up with all kinds of comments that cannot be repeated here. I’m pleased I started their day with something to laugh at. I cleaned up as best I could but my fleece now smells of rancid old strawberries and the febreze hasn’t got rid of it.

My watch was on lunch duty and a classic comment from Clive whilst doing the washing up and worried about water usage was “I suppose there is plenty of salt water we can use for this”. Yes Clive we have been washing up the whole journey with sea water and we have approximately 4500ms of it below you .

Peter had been threatening to bake a cake for 3 days and today he finally baked it. It was absolutely delicious and he even whipped up some double cream to compliment the masterpiece.

Another quote of the day whilst in the morning fog was “If you see a ship tell me so I can check the radar”. Surely, in the fog, the radar signals to us where the ship is? now now mel i was checking in daylight to make sure before fog that it was clear on the screen – alway doing checks before the need!

The downhill boys spotted the dorsal fin of a shark. I have been wanting to see sharks the whole journey and so was a little disappointed not to have seen it.

George is making a good recovery and only made one comment that made me a little concerned; “I’m soft and gooey on the inside and Alex knows that”. I have no idea what he was trying to say so thought I’d leave it at that.

The stars are back in the night sky. It’s the most we’ve seen in over a week and there was a lot of activity and shooting stars everywhere.

We heard the voice of the Falmouth coastguard tonight. It sounded very English and was a welcoming sound. If all goes to plan we shall sight the English coastline at some point on Saturday. – Mel

Diana: Just Another Day

Hi all,

Early Thursday morning continued towing Spirit of Isis towards the wind. Around 9am we found the wind and together decided to release the tow and get under sail. With only force 3 it was a little slow and we averaged only 5 knots. It was good to have the comfort of another yacht in sight as we again continued our journey.

The rest of the morning passed without much activity and the winds died away again at lunchtime. Isis required another tow and this time I learnt how to set up the bridle to create the tow. This may not be in the competent crew syllabus but It was interesting to learn. Towing continued for the rest of the day and the sun shone down on the 2 boats. My watch looked a little too comfortable as Ash stole the mattress from the gentlemans lounge and layed it up on deck. Sean requested to share the mattress to top and tail but Ash politely declined much to the disapointment of Sean.

I think George has gone a little boat crazy. George probably has the worst positioned bunk on the boat which is next to the galley and infront of the hatch. I think sleep deprivation may be taking it’s toll. He’d defiitely had better days than today. His appearance on deck with a bowl of cereal, shaking his head, with his earplugs still in and unable to speak was a little disconcerting. A full recovery by lunchtime was achieved as he was injected with coffee.

We continued towing Isis until the winds picked up and everyone had eaten and we untied just before darkness around 9.30pm with Isis all sorted. The long slow day took it’s toll and everyone was ready for a rest. – Mel

Diana: Clean and Fresh

This is your dailly blog coming from a clean and fresh Spirit of Diana.  As a reward for so far only using one tank of fresh water Peter has allowed us to have showers today!  Peter may also have been beaten down  by my whining about itchy hair and body but whatever the reason for allowing showers he’s a god in my eyes today.  He can have as many cups of tea and biscuits as he wants.  My sense of smell is revitalised as one by one the crew emerge from the shower.  Most of the crew are adorning clean T-shirts and even some trousers have been changed.

The day’s sailing started wonderfully with poled out no1 and the wind didn’t drop until lunchtime.  We dropped the pole and carried on sailing until the wind disappeared entirely and we had to go on engine around 3pm.

At midnight we received a radio call from Spirit of Isis saying they had issues with their engine and we went to stand-by in case they required assistance.  We received another call at 2am we offered our help to Spirit of Isis with a tow to waters with a little more wind to keep making coure for home. Diana made an about turn and headed to Isis’s position.  This took us just a little over 3 hours and we located them in the mist around 5am.  We swiftly shorted out a bridle with a long tow rope and gave them a tow.  Everyone is safe and sound and there is no need to worry as we travel back to the UK even closer together.  When we find the wind we’ll be able to uncouple and both be under sail again.

Is there a fussy mouse or is there a biscuit and malteser snatcher on the boat?  We have a daily allowance of goodies such as chocolate bars and biscuits etc. and I’ve noticed the supply quickly depleting.  As one of the only 2 females on board I appear to have accidentally become the food supply authority.  In summary, this means the crew tend to ask me what foods they can eat each day. My initial reaction to the disapearance was that Pedro had been having midnight feasts but after close questioning it is not the case.  Pedro can and will eat like a whart hog and never puts on weight (big apologies Pedro).  I’m not sure who’s been midnight nibbling but skipper now has the goodies under lock and key and is now open to bribery.

The lack of wind – our original schedule of Saturday arrival does not appear possible.  As soon as we have a better idea of arrival day we or the Ondeck support staff will be sure to let you know.

Big love to all from the happy yacht Spirit of Diana – Mel

Diana: Sunshine, Wind and Sails

Now this is alot more comfortable and we’re still making good progress.  We have sunshine, wind and sails.  We are poled out with No1 sail and relaxing in the calm waters with the sun beating down on us.  We have wind between 15 and 19 knots and an average speed of 8/9 knots.  It was a pain getting the sails in this position but worth it.  It’s harder to helm than other positions I’ve tried but after some instruction from the ever patient Ash I seem to be getting the hang of it.  The music is on, spirits and morale is high and it’s great to see everyone on deck.  Some of Steve’s music is somewhat to be desired.  If I had to name the type of music I’d call it hill billy trance.  How my house music can be any worse I don’t know!?

We’ve seen 3 whales together today and I’ve decided they were mum, dad and baby.  They were close by and looked big but didn’t raise themselves out of the water so we couldn’t really tell.

We have a new invention for our bilge issue which makes maintenance day much much easier.  Ash changed the fire hose pump and decided it would be a good idea to build a roaming automatic bilge pump.   15 minutes later bucket after bucket was being taken from the bilges with little effort.   Once again, Ash is the hero of Diana.

The fishing line has been out and still no fish has been caught.  When we pulled the line in tonight I noticed something small on the end of the hook and wondered what it could be….on closer inspection we had caught one of our T bags.  What other boat can fish the atlantic and catch their own discarded T bag?  Honestly, something has to give.  Skipper has mentioned there is a fish and chip shop in Weymouth and I think it might be our best hope of eating fish on this trip.

I had lots of sleep last night, almost 7 hours and this has given me way too much energy.  I’m at a loss with what to do with myself and have taken to singing and dancing a little too enthusiasticlly.  Some may say I’m a little boat crazy but I think I just need to be kept occupied with something to do.

Dinner time is radio Diana time and tonight we made a small mistake with the VHF channel.  We wished to broadcast from the NAV station to the deck but unfortunately we didn’t change the channel from 16  (All ships broadcast) to IC (Internaq`a\l commnication) and we broadcast our blog to the surrounding ships.  Not one of our best ideas of the week.  We called the nearby cargo ship to apologise but they appeared not to have taken any notice of Pedro and I laughing like hyenna’s on their radio.

Spider pig Sean has been on two watches today and is once again on solids.  There has been much activity with shooting stars and at one point Sean claimed to see a beaming light.  Sean wondered if it was a UFO and whether he could negotiate a fare to the nearest dry land.  Sean may not be seasick but i think he may have lost his marbles.

I think we have reached half way. The course keeps changing so I won’t bet my life on it but fingers crossed we have. Yes we have! just over 600 nm to go!

Best wishes from all of us – Mel

Diana: Standing on Two Feet

Another day dawns in the mid-Atlantic.We arrive on watch to find the no 1 sail up, a full main and hardly any wind.  Just after lunch we put the engine on and take the no 1 down.  All except Ash (1st mate) agree It’s great for the boat to be horizontal again.  It’s a lovely change to be able to clean your teeth without the froth flying away from you and get dressed without holding on to a pole for dear life.

Flattening of the boat gave a new lease of life to everyone including Sean.  It was like seeing a tortoise come out of hibernation as he came and sat on deck and ate some delicious chicken curry made by Alex.

Radio Diana has resumed.  Pedro our Portugese watch leader has his own jingle and reads the daily messages and blog out to us at dinner time.  A rather comical affair because of his accent and the content of family and friends messages.

Ash and Pedro have fixed the new on deck speakers and we can now groove along the ocean waves.  There’s a lack of music on my watch as we all seem to have killed/lost/misplaced our ipod’s and mp3 players.  I make up for it by singing but I’m not sure the rest of the watch agree it’s better than the real thing.

Alison continued “operation rubber glove” and we have 2 heads functional again.   Once again, thanks to Pedro, Pete, Alison and Ash.

The “gentlemans lounge”  (the galley bunk under Sean’s – the only seat we can use inside the boat) has re-opened but as Sean is in his bunk most of the time the opening hours are limited.   With Sean’s return to life I expect opening hours to increase but am not expecting the G&Ts to flow anytime soon.  With the boat flat the pole dancers are yet to make an appearance but after today’s weather forecast we have some down-wind sailing in store.

Sleep recovery and being able to stand on 2 legs without falling has made a big difference to morale and everyone is back to their normal selves.  Well, as close to normal as this lot could ever be!

Best wishes to all Mel

Mel just asked if the inside of boats could be kimbled !!!! (skipper Pete)

Diana: Diana and the Dolphins

We had our first sightings of dolphins today and they were large and lots of them.  I’m not sure if it was the appearance of 5 of us rushing up to the bow to take a look at them but they didn’t hang around long and disappeared quickly.  We saw a number throughout the day which always brighten the day.  We also spotted our first traffic which was a cargo ship in the distance.  It’s amazing what you find interesting when all you have seen is the blue of the ocean for 4 days.

Everyone is tired as they still settle into the watch system.  I was particularly vocal when I hit my head on the ceiling for the umpteenth time whist trying to get out of my bunk to the moving floor 6ft below me and with an angle of 45 degrees.  If I could have got back into bed and got out the other side I would have.  The Northerly wind was biting last night and so the mixture of the cold and tiredness didn’t make Mel a happy bunny.  Everyone is putting a brave face on it but today was a testing one.  With daylight the smiles reappear.

The team on maintenance had a fun day clearing 20 buckets of water from the bilges and we think there is a leak from one of the water tanks.  When I suggested to skipper that we empty the water tank by having showers i didn’t receive the response I wanted.  Surely it’s better for the water to be used than filter to the bilges and then have to be bucketed out?  The skipper edits my blog so let’s see if he has a good argument against my request!

We have around 14 knots of wind and have been sailing with the no1 head sail up most of the time.  We are still heading north and after a radio call with Isis warning of 30 knot winds ahead it was decided to change from the no1 to no3 sail which is smaller in size and more manageable in high winds.  Luckily, I was off watch but the others had their first night time sail change at 2am.  I hid in my bunk but heard the whole ordeal which took around 40 minutes.  A race team will change sails in under 5 minutes so you can imagine that it just takes us a while longer on deck.  Apparently, it was pretty exciting and that was in the words of a 62 year old ex policeman. It also looked like the Tazmanian devil had been tidying ropes onto the winches by the time we came up on watch.

One of the toilets is blocked and Alison has spent 2 hours trying to fix it without success.  Operation rubber glove to be continued tomorrow.

The 3 guys taking their ocean yachtsmaster got their gadgets out again and I think they were more successful in whatever it is they were trying to do.  I would try to be more informative if I had a clue what they were up to!

We managed to find a packet of jaffa cakes for Sean and I think it’s the jaffa cakes that are fixing him up.  We loved your message about maning up Carli, they always make us laugh.

Thanks to all for the messages so far and keep them coming.