Freedom Mid Atlantic Update. 21.11.05

Hello all Freedom Friends, I'm sure you have all been waiting with great anticipation for our First live web update! We are now sitting about 2/3 rds of the way across to the Caribbean and we have just had the most wonderful (albeit some what boisterous ) sailing conditions thus Far. We departed Palma de Mallorca on Saturday the 5th of November all Ship Shape and Bristol fashion with a very Favourable North East forecast to run us down to Gibraltar for bunkering. Our friends at Commanders weather centre once again came up trumps and had us pushing south-westwards out of Palma in a glorious 25 knots.We held on to the soldiers breeze all the way and arrived in just under 48 hrs. A nice start as it is ever-so important to get all the delivery crew etc settled into their new environs and to shake out the land bugs from being in port for 8 weeks.It's funny to say, but I still always have some butterflies in the tummy everytime we embark on an ocean voyage. So it was time to fill her up with fossil fuel, take a quick tour of the English supermarkets, have a look at the Monkeys upon the Great rock and Set sail for the Canaries. Westward Ho ! Oh Yeah, must not forget to mention I purchased a video recorder, Yes sorry my friends but you're all going to have to sit and endure hours of boring footage in the crew mess. Ha Ha. We hummed and arghed considerably and joined in a lot of head scratching when receiving our latest Gibraltar departure forecast, If we were going to reap the benefits of a huge high pressure system developing over the North Atlantic we first had to be brave enough to throw the dock lines in a 40 knot forecast.West by North-West. So for those without an atlas handy ?,you guessed it ! a very tough and wet close Stb beat out of the straights. As the afternoon turned into evening and the Shipping lanes became less daunting with the volumes of traffic, the wind abated and veered into a 30 knot fresh Nor'easter. Each time we turned further south for the Canaries the wind clocked further in our favour. So we were shot out of Europe like a champagne cork and were quickly marching south-westwards at 12 knots to the Canaries. Every time we tried to square away down the Rhumbline the wind direction just kept coming too square and on a yacht like this a dead down wind or DDW wind angle is not advantageous. It means that the boat speed is slowest and an increased risk in gybing the main and mizzen booms.So before we knew it, it was time to make a decision on wether or not we were destined to stop at the Canaries in anycase. Decision time, We had become committed to a straight line shot at Antigua via a very Northern routing and our forecasts were to carry heavier wind and sea conditions from the East / Nor'easter for at least the next week. As promised, as received ! We have just simply had some of the most wonderful big boat sailing conditions out here and have been clocking 24 hour mile-age runs well into the 200 plus figures with our best run being 254 miles. Just as I write this today, 21.11.05 we have sadly had to turn on the " Iron Topsail" as our conditions have diminished and we are motoring along in a 5kn Northerly. Just under Five days to go and we should arrive in Antigua on Friday 25th. Fishing has been wonderful and we've caught so many Dorado's that we are now filleting and freezing them down, Fair winds until our next update. Freedom.