Day 8-Wash Day

First task of the day was to fix the heads , which Uwe and Sean set about doing with great commitment, while the rest of the crew rapidly exited to the fresh air of the cockpit and foredeck.

With that success behind us, we were inspired to do our laundry which had accumulated in a hot soggy mess. Pat strung out washing lines between the solar panels and before long JML Rotary Scout looked like a Vietnamese trawler.

Ash baked us bread for lunch, served up with spectacular bacon omelets and with a satisfied feeling, we set back to relax in the afternoon sun, enjoying a gentle breeze and a smooth sea state.

Peter suddenly sprang into action and offered us a challenge to fly the ginnaker. Following Peter’s excellently executed directions, we were soon flying a beautiful bright orange sail. In doing so, we picked up at least 2 knots in speed as we made our way across a vast Atlantic Ocean.

Peter sat back and voiced his gut feeling that it would not rain that night. Within half an hour we were presented with a very large approaching squall on our port side. With a flurry of activity we efficiently brought down the ginnaker and reefed the main just before the violent squall hit us , drenching us in a solid downpour, that sent us all grabbing for shampoo and shower gel to wash  8 days of encrusted salt out of our hair and clothing, leaving us laughing and joking as we sailed into the night.