7.Vendee Globe 2012/13 - Teil 1 - Les Sables bis Äquator

22.11.2012
Captain's log: Sam Davies
Newswires | Thursday 22 November 2012, 14h53

Hello,
176.1 miles to go to Cascais, our number one port of call on this mammoth voyage towards France; The wind has finally dropped so at last we can head directly towards our waypoint and make slightly better headway. The sea is still rough, so Saveol is slamming over the waves (even at 5 knots!) and without the (real) mast and sails to steady her it is pretty uncomfortable still.
We have been getting lots of sleep and I have also started reading my e-books on my Kindle.

This morning I made myself a fresh orange and grapefruit salad which was delicious. I would never take the time to do that if I was racing, so I am making the most of these little "luxuries". The sun is out and it is dry on deck which is nice, despite the slamming, and we are regularly visited by the local dolphins who obviously are intrigued by the noise of the motor. I can feel them all asking the question why this IMOCA 60 is not going as fast and silently as usual... as they can see our keel and bulb!! I take the endoscope and watch them playing around the keel and under the boat!

Today I also realised that we should have bought some fishing equipment in Madeira because we are at ideal fishing speed! Mind you, then we would have to deal with the fish and our kitchen is not very well equipped (no fridge, no lemon, no frying pan....) so maybe it’s better we don't fish!
More news tomorrow,
Sam.