Day 23 - Bermuda to Ireland

[Kyle]Yesterday the wind finally did abate as the storm left. In its place came fog and cold drizzly rain. The wind also shifted to the side no longer protected by the enclosure (brrrrr) so it made for some cold and miserable watches indeed. We did have a dead air spell after the frontal system passed, putting more pressure on our (hoped for) arrival time - certainly not by first thing in the morning.  We expect to see Fastnet light sometime tonight, probably during Maryanne's night watch (ends at 3am GMT).

Weather: I awoke this morning to actual blue sky peeking out between the clouds and shadows in the cockpit - will the sun stay? I hope so.

General Comments: After some fitful sleeping, convinced the boat was falling apart, it was a huge relief to find all well aboard Footprint. The fix we put in place yesterday is holding strong on that rear rail (whew). Of course not all is perfect. Our masthead light has failed, so we are sailing at night with steaming lights and an anchor light just to be sure we can be seen - once we get into harbor we can fix that with the spare bulb we have aboard (I assume). Not surprisingly, that centerboard is now failing to lift & raise, and the other board looks like it won't work for too many more tries - the line that controls it has chafed through - presumably from when we hove to. We have plenty of little leaks to tend to - but the worst is one, we assume, is coming from the hatch but that finds a path and drains down the chain plates where they attach to the wooden bulkhead. (Chain plates are the critical metal fittings that hold the shrouds, that support the mast at the sides).

Sailing conditions have been good and we even have the screacher back out.

Food: I experimented yesterday and made a delicious SOY/TVP Cottage pie... I was worried it wouldn't be spicy enough for Kyle (who loves chilis and curries, and adds Tabasco sauce to everything) but he loved it too; it is now on the regular list. To help save washing up I made it with just cans and dried food - it took maybe 10 minutes max of prep and cooking. It was so cold, it was perfect to have such a homey dish.

Progress: Yesterday we made 115 nm, So far on this trip we have traveled (through the water) 2646 nm, and have 146 nm (straight line) to go.

We know so many of you are following our progress and it is really comforting from our end.  We obviously don't check our standard email when offshore (we have a secret offshore account that only special people are told), and once we arrive it will probably take us weeks to catch up - so if you have sent us something, don't worry if you don't hear from us for a while. Today I wanted to send a quick thank you to Kyle's Aunt Linda so managed to get a message to us here at sea. She tells us she is following (with mixed feelings), but also many in her office are following our progress - so hi to Linda's office colleagues.