1st Email From Lee

24 Dec 2011
It is ten am on Friday morning and we have already had a very busy day. We cleaned the boat, and ourselves. It sounds so funny but it takes so much time to do everything. To have a bath and wash your hair takes over 30 minutes cos you have to calculate your every move and hold on for dear life, so it becomes a one arm show to get things done. Very frustrating at times, but we are staying positive and laugh a lot at the discomfort that sailing is...I have bruises all over my body!!! My butt looks like I have been whipped from falling into things and slamming around the cabin... I am chewing arnica tablets like sweets...
We don’t get much sleep because of the ever changing wind and conditions, so we – mostly Sash - is up changing course all the time and then I feel guilty and don’t rest, so things have been rather tiring, but we sleep when we can.The boat is going like a dream... Our max speed has been 14knots but we are only averaging just under 5 knots. The first few days were bad with no wind, so we are trying to make up a little time now. We have headed quite far South so that we can get the weather.
We are having a few issues with getting e-mails so comms is limited. The sat coverage is poor and it keeps dropping the signal. This is just lucky if you get this e-mail. We are struggling to get our weather pattern e-mails.
So far, I am having a good time... I have bouts where I feel a bit nauseous, normally when the gas for the stove goes on, but otherwise all good. I have seen some amazing sunrises, sunsets and moon rises. The stars are magnificent out here. It is not too cold yet and we are still keeping warm and dry. My hands are also very sore, but guess what? My carbuncle has gone down. I am so happy - yipeee!! I saw some flying fish the other day! They are so fascinating. Otherwise just birds, some yellow tail followed us a bit the other day and last night we saw a beautiful rainbow.
We are having a good time, I am enjoying it for the most part except the falling everywhere, but so far the experience has been awesome.I hope that it carries on and that we continue to be safe in our journey.
I am going to sign off as battery power is precious.