Welcome pop-pickers to another edition of Lancelot’s Radio Gaga, a round-up of musical accompaniment to a transatlantic crossing, coming in at number 40 with…
- A calming Sunday Afternoon cruising over misty water but tired of waiting for a consistent breeze to send us onwards and upwards westward...
- At 30 our watery world is in motion again, brave Lancelot and her crew tacking upwind into a south westerly and choppy seas as the rush comes in...
- And at 20, helming into a Waterloo Sunset, the conditions really getting Lancelot going, course metaphorically and literally set for another Blue Monday...
- Moving onto 15, sailing through the storm into a dark and damp dawn, some of the crew were wishing they could fly like Superman, far away to a Lavander Hill in Lincoln County together with a Rosemary Rose. Praying for someone to offer the words, Call on me and resisting the temptation of a jump into the ocean...
- And the top ten, a new dawn across some velvet morning, a Mr Songbird playing his tunes to help kick the troubles at bay and the crew’s dedicated followers of fashion doing their laundry. Usual routines kick back in on board; thieves like us are after certain pieces of drilled stationery invoking acute schizophrenic paranoia among some crew members, verging on turning them Japanese...
- And at 5, with Lola’s favourite theme and shifting Atlantic shapes and sounds, Lancelot cruises on doing 7 knots average on Wednesday afternoon and currently leading, yes first place, in her racing division and fourth overall...
- Nine days is the estimate for ETA in St Lucia, well in time for a top charting number one Father Christmas, families and friends and flights home…
With all recognition to the great work of the Kinks, New Order and various other artists whose name escape!
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Quick update following the musical interlude! This was part of the daily blog Lancelot is doing and for which we are taking turns. The main idea has been to incorporate Queen songs into the blog and I came up with this little one kicking off from Radio Gaga.
Back to reality and things are going well. Since yesterday evening we have been sailing along on a downwind tack broadly heading in the direction of St Lucia, around 1620 nautical miles to go. It has been pretty much near perfect conditions and ones which so far haven’t caused me any more sea sickness problems. Long may this continue! We did have one interesting moment early this morning however, an early indication of how easy it might be to broach Lancelot in rougher conditions. I had just taken over the helm at 7h30 during our 5-8 watch and in the cross-over between Prue and I we managed to veer significantly upwind. With sails flapping madly, we both struggled to correct by steering to starboard and had the helm on full lock over – all to no avail. Jacko, who had been dosing in the dawn, was quickly on his feet releasing the mainsail and kite sheets to allow the wind to escape and us to manage the helm. All quite disconcerting when you realize how quickly it can happen.
But for the rest of the day it has been plain sailing, and great fun going downwind surfing off the swell from time to time. I’m told that once winds get pat 15 knots this feeling is even better! As I mentioned in my earlier blog we are now in first place in our racing division and fourth overall! Bring it on, let’s keep those speeds up and maintain this perfect course. Our next big challenge is a calm spell coming up tomorrow afternoon but from then on we should be on the trades and have a good idea when we’ll be arriving in St Lucia. ETA for now still December 11.
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