Better Wind

I'm pretty thrilled to have made good progress to the east over the last two days. We've finally had 15-20 knots of steady breeze and Ella's Pink Lady has been surfing along nicely. The wind is also expected to keep increasing, so you never know, it might start getting a bit more like the Southern Ocean down here after all!

The light drizzly rain has become a constant and the temperature seems to drop a little lower each day. At least the fog seems to have disappeared now (see pic below). There's still plenty of birds around, but I'm not doing so well at getting pictures of them as they just won't sit still for me. I'll post some pictures just as soon as I manage to get some half decent shots!

When I venture up on deck these days, I feel a bit like a clumsy elephant with all the gear that I have to wear. First there's all the thermals and various different layers, then boots and wet-weather gear, hat, life jacket and what feels like half the hardware stashed in the pockets of my overalls. I'm always carrying my knife, PLB (personal EPIRB), shifter and more often than not a selection of various other tools. It's far easier to just take most of the spanner set with you, when picking the wrong size means an extra round of clipping and un-clipping tethers and opening and replacing washboards.

I'm still having the time of my life, doing a lot of reading keeping up a constant stream of hot drinks, having fun with my cooking (my chocolate pudding was a great hit with the crew yesterday!) and today I've a had few little jobs to do when shackles on the vang (which holds the boom down) andwindvane decided to give up the go. But a bit of improvising and we were all good again.

So just 1500 nm to Cape Horn and 2009 almost over. I can't believe where this year has gone. It's nearly 2010 already!

Jesse

Pic: A foggy few days over Christmas!