November-December - The ARC

Each day brought different and spectacular sunrises and sunsets. The clear open skies meant that the stars were bright and easily seen. We gradually learned a few more constellations and where we could find the visible planets. The milky way was obvious in a way that made the origin of the name quite understandable.
Shooting stars were our favourites and no watch on a clear night passed without several being seen. There were three main sorts. The first was a fast bright light moving across the sky which disappeared before reaching the horizon. The second came down more vertically and spread out like a firework mortar shell after a short distance of travel. Our favourite was the third type which seemed larger and trailed more slowly across the sky breaking up into bright flaming debris streams. More than once we thought we had seen a distress flare and realised it was only a shooting star!

Dawn over the most north-western Cape Verde island
Sunset over the most north-western Cape Verde island
Dawn in the Atlantic Ocean
Watching the dolphins from the bow
The Atlantic playing pussy cat...
Eleanor catching fish
In high spirits after morning showers
One of our fruit nets
Chris in relaxation mode - as usual
Chris anticipating the next large fish
Skipper feeling happy to be here with such a good crew
The egrets who came visiting in mid atlantic
Getting some rays on a quiet day The egrets who came visiting in mid Atlantic One of our fruit nets
St Lucia getting nearer and nearer
St Lucia suddenly appeared from the cloud!
The beat to the finishing line from Pigeon Island across Rodney Bay

The weather was light for week one, moderate for week two and fresh for the last week with squalls.

Days gradually entered a routine which varied mainly because of sail changes or fish caught. Books were devoured by all and music was played loudly through the cockpit speakers or headphones. Each night we settled to watch an episode of “24” series two with two episodes on the last few days to complete the series. We watched some other DVDs too and this certainly added to the entertainment on board.
Every third day we ran the radio net for our fleet group, reading the weather forecast and collecting positions over the SSB. It was good to find we had one of the best radio installations in the fleet thanks to the advice given by Sailmail’s Jim Corenman.
When we had fresher winds we found that the boat reveled in the conditions and surfed with a very stable motion. We used all our sails apart from those intended for storms.

Arrival was very exciting and our daughter Jo and boyfriend Dave met us on the dock!

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