Firefly, 10 December 2001
16° 56N 53° 43W
Distance to St Lucia 450nm

According to Jeremy Wyatt at World Cruising Club, organisers of the ARC, when I spoke to him via Iridium phone to report our noon position, this year has been a heavy weather crossing, with a lot of equipment damage reported. Our experience bears this out.

With the exception of one short period when we drifted along for 12 hours or so with little wind, it has been consistently between 20 and 30 knots, gusting occasionally to 35 knots. So far the damage to Firefly is restricted to a broken reef pennant and a damaged pulpit although the clunking noise coming from the steering gear indicates that it will be due for some R&R when we arrive.

For the latest ARC report from Firefly, click on the links on the ybw and Yachting World homepages.