World ARC Yacht "Asolare" Leg 4, Day 16 to the Marquesas.

Monday 24^th March 2008

Mr Amel, your perfect yacht has developed TWO faults – the wind speed indicator reads zero and the wind direction shows that we must be sailing backwards! Could it be something to do with the fact that we are closer to land as the attached photo shows!

At 1355 UTC today we have just 389miles to go to Hiva Oa and expect to arrive there on Wednesday afternoon. The winds are still very light but have now increased to around 12 knots so we have put up our Parasailor again. With this wind there is little chance of getting the wing cords caught in the rigging – hopefully. I well remember when, during the ARC 2004, Sallyanne went up the mast in mid-Atlantic to free the wing cords from the rigging. I know I was more relieved to see her safely back on the deck than Sallyanne was. Apparently, a piece of cake, compared with the tough physical exercises and challenges that an Officer in the RAF has to put herself through to keep fit!

We have been looking out very hard, but we have not had a visit from the Easter Bunny despite putting out the last of our precious lettuce. We also did not have Chocolate Easter eggs for Easter, nor Guinness for St Patrick's Day, so our provisioning needs some improvement – you did not cover these items Sallyanne in your provisioning lectures!

Last night I cooked four of our conch I collected in Anegarda in the British Virgin Islands. I cooked them in a mild curry sauce with lemon juice, soy sauce, ginger and Olive Oil. They were absolutely delicious on a bed of fluffy white rice!

There is a lot more wind further east where most of the fleet are so the whole fleet are closing up. This is great as it will mean that there won’t be too much of an interval between first and last yacht arriving in Hiva Oa especially after a 2950 mile leg

Capt. Peter.