ARC day16: sleep, eat, sail repeat

Today saw us into the groove of the tradewinda sailing. Although the wind is a little stronger than we are expecting it's pretty much in the right direction.
Predictwind thinks we can get to St Lucia in about 16 days so just before Xmas.
We have to make at least 5 knots continuously for that time which should be ok as long as the sea state doesn't get too much worse. Running downwind with our twin Headsails is pretty quick and we can get up to 7 knots but only if the waves come from behind. Right now they aren't, instead arriving from about 135 degrees to our bow. Every so often the boat slews down a wave and turns up to windward resulting in the tiller pilot struggling to compensate.
Hmm the pilot, yeah, it's got a few problems but mostly works reliably. The bracket that attaches it to the tiller has begun to work loose so it's now fixed to the tiller with a jubilee clip and a G-clamp.
We are currently doing 6.1 knots due west at 15 47.757N 29 30.198W.
St Lucia here we come.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

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