Our days onboard Lady Jane revolve around food, sleep, and safety. And not necessarily in that order.
Watches start at 2000 and run to 0800, split into two six-hour shifts. Maria can sleep at any time during the day or night, so she does the 0200 to 0800 watch. I take the one from 2000 to 0200.
The person on watch keeps a look out for any marine traffic by scanning the horizon and watching for AIS signals on the chart plotter. And they keep an eye on the wind – particularly for any squalls that might be developing. In between those bouts of mini-activity, entertainment comes in the form of audiobooks or ebooks and from occasionally stuffing your face with chocolate bars.
The person on watch wears a life jacket and clips on to the boat.
Some might say that six hours is too long to be on watch. I disagree. With two people on board it gives the person off watch a chance to have six hours uninterrupted sleep. And for the person on watch, there is always something to do. Neither of us have felt bored.
At 0800, Maria goes back to bed for a while. And we spend the rest of the day together. Lunch is around noon’ish and dinner just before dark.
During the day one of us walks around the deck to check the rigging for any loose fastenings and damage, and to inspect the ropes for chaffing. We also clear any flying fish that have landed on board overnight. One morning we found six of these little fellas scattered all over the boat.
In the afternoon we use the satellite phone to download the latest weather report and the position report of other boats in the rally, and to upload blog entries to our website.
And that’s it. Every day is subtly different, though, so it doesn’t feel like Groundhog Day. And we are enjoying being out here.
Last night we came across a couple of Cornell rally boats: Akouavi and Anemone. The former passed us about a mile away at around 8 knots – the Pogo is a very fast boat – and the latter we passed early morning. I had a quick chat with Chris on Akouavi and all is well – except that his crew member has lost all his fishing gear.
All continues to be well onboard Lady Jane. We are now 1188 miles from Barbados. Our water tanks are full and the food lockers stuffed.
Glad to see you are well organised and safe. I enjoy your updates Allen they keep me in touch. Love to you both. Mum
Xxx