Up up and away......

Easter Sunday surprised me with a bowl containing a Lindt Easter bunny
with a bell, and various sizes and colours of Easter eggs next to my bed
when I woke up :))) It set the tone for the day. We have lots of sliced
bread and egg and should be used before we loose it. Tristan offered me a
sarmy and I suggested he makes a pile of french toast with bacon. He said
he has never made french toast before but he will give it a go. I gave him
a few basic pointers and soon he was producing perfectly fried slices of
french toast. The smell of the french toast drifted into the cabins and a
few enquiry rounds were made past the galley. Once the toast was done it
was placed in the oven to stay warm and then the smell of bacon started
filling the saloon down into the cabins and up to the helming station on
the flybridge. Not long after we all sat down to a delectable breakfast.

The wind has been dying a bit on us with little spells of air here and
there. One of our missions on this voyage is to take some footage with a
drone and it was time to do our maiden flight. We were motor sailing with
the full genoa and Richard was the first on the drone controls. He made a
three minute flight away from Second Wind and back in again. Nervous
moments for all of us but high 5's all around after Danny caught the drone
mid air. Difficult enough to fly a drone with hardly any practise on land,
let alone out at sea. Moving platform that you take off from and have to
come in and land on as well. One little mistake and the drone goes to Davy
Jones's locker. On Richard's first attempt to land and he bounced slightly
off the deck before he got it under control again. It really is not so
easy with the wind blowing you off course.

An hour or so later the conditions were good to raise the gennikar which
would make excellent footage with the drone. This time Danny was at the
controls and circled Second Wind a few times from afar, getting some great
footage. The landing was a bit hectic, but Richard saved the day by
grabbing the drone after Danny half crash landed. We all uttered a great
sigh of relieve and a few out at sea expressions too. The footage on both
flights was eagerly awaited as Carey loaded it on her Mac. She will be
editing all the drone and GoPro and cell phone footage we capture. Just
the other morning I called Danny to come and look at a spectacular rainbow
right behind us. Captured it on my cell phone, both ends of the rainbow in
sight. Amazing what perspective a drone can give you. Looks like we are
out in space, which I guess we really are. Seeing the curve of the horizon
in the background also lends to the outer space feeling. And Second Wind
looks stunning with her blue gennikar up front leaving two long white
lines in our wake. What a feeling, what a sight!

Today we also sailed our first 1000 nautical miles. And New Moon as well
today. And we rigged two rods with reels and lures and trolling for wish.
A few flying fish have also made an appearance and soon we should have
some ultra fresh sushi and sushimi :) We have loads of pickled ginger,
wasabi and soya sauce for these occasions or blessings I should more
correctly say. The previous few days we were going a bit to fast to fish,
at one point surfing at 14.5kts. 6kts is ideal and on rod and reel one
preferably also want to the able to slow the boat down when we get hooked
up.

For supper I used our steamer magodi for the first time to steam some
spuds. Looks like a metal flower that opens to fit most size pots
perfectly. Fried some sausage all the way from Ladysmith in KZN and with
some whole kernel corn and various condiments we had a most agreeable meal
:) For desert we had some tea with banana bread that Carey baked the day
before. She baked two loaves, the first one was devoured in minutes.
Torture to sit and wait for it to cool down. Only once the baker gives the
thumbs up we got stuck into it.

The water temperature is rising steadily as is the weather. The nights are
warmer and the cold misty rainy stormy nights are over for a while. Not
long before we cross into the western hemisphere. We expect to arrive at
St.Helena within the next five days and will try to post some footage and
pics. Hopefully the internet is fast enough. Trust that you had a blessed
Easter as well and will keep you posted on our adventures.

Monday morning today, and as we always joke, for six days we rest and on
the 7th day we work :) We have covered just over 1100nm in our first week,
averaging about 6,5kts. We are hoping to maintain a 6kt average and thus
have a few miles in credit. We did however had great wind which helped a
lot. For the next few days we expect very light winds which will bring our
average down a bit, but 6kts should be within our reach. Today we are
servicing both motors. Just an oil and filter change really, and we are
well equipped to make this an easy task. We will also decant 250ltrs of
diesel into both port and starboard tanks. We prefer to keep the tanks as
full as possible to reduce the change of condensation forming inside the
tanks which in turn will create water. We have got special ceramic magnetic
fuel filters that will remove any diesel bugs before the fuel goes into the
engine. We also do the daily maintenance checks all around the boat. Great
to have so many able and willing hands on deck. Makes light work of any
task.

Wishing you a wonderful day. We hope to make St.Helena in the next four to
five days, Friday or Saturday.