Day 12

Distance run over last 24 hours: 139 nautical miles

Distance to destination: 1019 nautical miles

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to learn that another day has dawned with feeble and fickle winds blowing from astern.  Alcedo's bows point resolutely towards the Caribbean.  A languid Atlantic swell sweeps in from the north east, passing Alcedo and disappearing off to the south west, where the waves will eventually break on the shores of Guyana or Venezuela, or the beaches of Brazil.  As each wave passes, it rolls the yacht just enough to spill whatever wind exists from the sails, and stalls progress.  On the wheel I anticipate the deflection, correct the helm and reset the course, only to be rolled by the next succeeding wave...this continues for the full two hours of my morning watch.  On the chartplotter, the symbol representing Alcedo moves imperceptibly slowly across the vastness of the ocean.  We have 1000 miles still to go.  Even the flying fish have given up and gone home.
We have seen no other ships - yachts or cargo vessels - for the last two days.  Spirits are lifted by a brief visit from a pod of dolphins in the early afternoon, but we are moving too slowly to amuse them and soon they too are gone.
We are still holding a good position in the fleet, as most other yachts are experiencing similarly light conditions.  As we reach the 1000 miles to destination mark, it is sobering to reflect that one of the ARC boats 'Beagle' has still 2100 miles to run.  In the days of commercial sail, men would go mad at sea in becalmed conditions.  Perhaps they still do?