Land ahoy!

Well we made it, or we’ve very nearly made it. We are within a stone’s throw of St Lucia (or at least a stone thrown by anyone other than the current crew of Shepherd Moon. The throwing gene seems to have gone awry in this family, and a well aimed stone is as likely to head for Cape Verde as St Lucia). With a pod of dolphins helping shepherd us towards port, we just have to gybe the genoa and head for the finishing line. What could possibly go wrong! At least we don’t have to give too much thought as to which sails to use for our approach. We’ve broken all the other options and so the genoa it is.

Yesterday the wind was mostly kind and we made good progress throughout the day. Jacob was starting to show clear signs of cabin fever but it was too rolly to send him up the mast and so we opted to play cards instead. Shepherd Moon thought that was a great idea and joined in enthusiastically, waiting until mid-game to slide the deck of cards off the cockpit table and onto the floor. Perhaps for the next leg we should find games that are less reliant on stable surfaces (as an aside, I was once on a drilling rig with a pool table. All the balls used to lie neatly against one cushion or the other and you had to time your shot to coincide with the few short seconds it would take the balls to transit between the two. Needless to say I was useless).

Anyway, only seven miles to go and Daisy is waiting on the pontoon to catch our ropes (or, more accurately, lines). It will be great to have the family back together again.