Tuesday 6 May 2008

1015.48 16417.18

MJC- So it is Bikini! I had a feeling it might be but has no name on my chart. We're 90 odd miles SW and should pass it about 40 miles to the west. Will advise on nighttime son et lumiere. All googlable, but I think it was the first H bomb test, in about 1954...We'd be passing 40 miles dead downwind of a very big bang. I seem to remember a photo of old warships anchored in the lagoon being tossed in the air by the early part of the explosion. And, I suppose, Wake just up the street as the base for it all. Eerie - I've been to Woomera and close to the Monte Bellos but somehow not the same historical grip as this one. Did I read recently that they have just allowed the original Islanders back again?

Brian - thanks for very kind offer - I think the old sail is fine, but the UV protector is dead and all its stitching. And it's the UV protector that seems to be holding the leech line - no reinforcement. Tacky! Oh what a shoddy pun! I'm sure there will be someone in Dutch that can fix it. So as long as we actually get to Dutch, we should be ok. But I have learned a big lesson. We should have taken it for a sail before we left.... Your big sail is great - just the right size - and it works really well - but there just ain't no way to stop the leech buzzing once it's rolled in a bit. I think it must be something that happens to them all. Sends me bananas, but I'm learning to live with it! I'll call you on the satphone tomorrow.

Duncan - lanolin is definitely part of my daily routine - industrial strength stuff that we use to waterproof everything electrical and grease shackle pins and the like. And my hands. Savlon for the gunwale bum though.

Not much to report - had the three or four most profound consecutive sleeps ever in the last day or so, but now up and around again mid off watch sleep time. My arbitrary 11 degrees N half way point is about 200 miles too short in actual straight line distances, so we won't celebrate just yet - nevertheless a big milestone. I'll try to call Pascal once we're past 11 N.