15/04/12 - Lord Nelson

15 April.... finds all on Lord Nelson well, and raring to go sailing !! The sun is trying to shine in the Azores, and it is warm and dry.
The voyage crew for the passage home to Southampton joined yesterday, and from 28 people there was only one missing bag at the airport. An improvement on the day before which saw 4 LN crew in the lost luggage line up ! Luckily all bags arrived on the next flight in.... which also delivered Fred The Fish back to us....as we had momentarily mislaid him in Lisbon ...don't ask !!
So, as voyage crew John has gone hopefully to the airport desk in search of his bag, the rest are climbing the masts, preparing lunch and stowing gear safely, ready for our 14.00 departure.
This voyage is led by Captain John, 1st Mate Steve (AKA Higsy), 2nd Mate Rowan, Bosun Jim, Ch Eng Marco, 2nd Eng Chipps, Cookie Derek. The wonderful volunteers are the long standing Nigel, Fred, Bill, Katie ... and Baker extrordinaire as Cooks ass' is Colin. So we are well on the way to porkiness already, with pineapple upside down pudding, cookies etc on day one.
As the wind isn't playing, we are intending to motor North initially, to make some headway into the 1700 or so, nautical miles home. Then we will hopefully be able to pop into a port or two....we will let you know when we know! Possibly Cork...St Malo/Cherbourg...Cowes...or not !
So, we will be out of touch a lot, and there will be plenty to tell you next time we get a signal. Meanwhile, everyone is very jolly and there is a lot of banter, so I feel that we are in for a good trip home.
Love to all, Jane (Medical Purser)