Dear Family and Friends
As I post this note we have only 180 nautical miles (350km) to go - the end is almost in sight. What IS in sight are the oil rigs off the Brazilian coast line - so we have visual proof that progress is now real and quite rapid. If all goes well, we could end up in Rio about 4pm SA time tomorrow.
The winds built up rapidly last night to the point where we had to bid a respectful farewell to Sir Spinnaker and revert back to flying our genoa out on the spinnaker pole. With winds gusting regularly at 20knots (35kph), this is OK with us Newbies. As a result of this wind, we are flying on our way to Rio.
It is another roasting day out at sea with significant lethargy leaping spritely across the yacht affecting each and every one. It was a busy night with sail changes and rough seas (part of the deal... big wind = rough seas). The idea should be to catch up on sleep during the day but the heat together with 21 days of salt and sweat encrusted sheets makes sleep a touch testy :. As a result RR has been set aside for all but emergencies (and happily there are none of those at time of posting) and has been replaced by R&R (Rest & Relaxation).
A very special hello to those that are gathered at Stonehaven this evening. Thanks for making the time and effort to celebrate our pending arrival in Rio. The support and feedback from all our family and our friends has been fantastic and highly appreciated. We hope to be able to speak to you on Sat Phone at 6pm tonight SA time. We also hope to have a very short video ready for download for this gathering.
The timing is ideal - we need to arrive in Rio this weekend for numerous logistic reasons... Our milk is done - breakfast cereal with cool water is yummy...not. Cooking on a belching diesel fire is testing the humour of Shin & firemaker Gareth. Fortunately all essentials such as water and basic food is still plentiful. Dare I mention that toilet paper is finito :
We suspect we have broken a world record for trawling a line without catching anything. Shin has had a line out since day three and a desperate second line for the last ten days. We did lose one lure - but we believe it was just a big wave. So this makes a combined 10 000km of line trawling without joy. My son Ryan knows my fishing skills are zero - this appears to have spread across to Shin as well. We have been truly hoping for some Sushi a la Shin - but no such luck.
Lots of love and best wishes to all our family and friends from all of us just a few hundred km left of this 9 000km journey.
Regards
Mike on behalf of Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
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