23rd December 2010 today has been much better than yesterday; we started off with breakfast at 8am with three times as many people present than last night’s supper. All in all the crew were much happier, with only the odd one or two still feeling a little dodgy.
We have had a slight change of course after our choppy start yesterday and we are now going around under Tenerife rather than around the top in the hope that it will be a little smoother. However, the wind has dropped slightly so although we started off at around 8knots this morning we are now not doing much more than 2knots and Captain John thinks that by 8 or 9pm we may need to rely on one of the engines as we come around the bottom of Tenerife.
Some of the crew had another go at going aloft this afternoon; Tim and Rhys made it right to the top of the main mast and Jenny got as far as the second platform up before getting a bit worried about the height.
My watch leader (Don) has just reminded me that I must mention the wonderful food, as a first timer on a JST voyage I was not sure what to expect but I cannot stress enough how much of a wonderful job the galley staff are doing. Over the past few days we have had a wonderful assortment of breads, soups and cakes etc. They have been fantastic, though I must say that Mandy made me very nervous yesterday when using a huge knife to cut some cheese during that rough patch.
Tomorrow we hope to arrive in La Palma sometime in the afternoon, depending on the weather, but we shall keep you posted.
Bye for now,
Jenny Davey
Forward Port Watch