I'm a weary old fart. This sort of sailing, where we have to sail in very difficult weather conditions against seasonal deadlines and in complicated terrain with extra hazards like ice and fog is pretty stressful and Berri and I have been in a sort of survival sync probably since leaving Dutch and certainly since Nome. When the whole shebang depends on the planning and preparation that was done months ago, the focus sharpens a bit. As I have said before. we've been astonishingly astoundingly lucky, with the weather, the ice and the advice we have been given. We seem to have got it mostly right, and, as Pat said in one of his blogs, it makes for a boring story apart from the wonderful people we have met along the way, and all y'all out there cheering us on. Thanks everyone. The weight only really started to come off for me yesterday morning when I pulled in a grib file that showed no signs of another beasting between here and Falmouth. By far the worst bit of all for me, and I suspect for the others, has been since we left Greenland - more or less what I had been afraid of since we started to plan this gig. September is pushing our luck in the North Atlantic and - again - we were lucky.
We'll be even luckier if we make Falmouth by Friday - the decision whether to go for it or pull into the Scillies for an engine fix will be made probably within sight of Bishop Rock, if the wind lets us get that close.
MJC - pse tell Melanie journo that my local mobile will be either +447816004379 or +447770776274 depending which still has some credit on it. Failing either, Oz mobile number might work or message via website.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
