170 NM to go to St Helena

At noon we had 170 NM to go to St Helena. Almost two weeks afterdeparture from Cape Town everybody on board starts to get excited to seethe island. Hopefully the lookouts can spot the 820 metre high islandwith dawn tomorrow.The sailing over the past week has been really good. Starting with lightSE'ly winds, it has been slowly increasing from 10 up to 20 knots. Withhelp of everybody the stuntsl's were soon ready to be hoisted. Theskysail mast followed soon.The voyage crew has been attending lectures on ship, sail and riggingtopics. There was enough practise as we handled sails frequently.Setting stuntsl's and especially taking them away when the windincreased goes very smooth.When the speed allowed it "Samanta" the manta trawl has been deployed bythe scientists. It's interesting every time to see what has beencollected. Plastics, but also all sorts of small living animals. Afterinspection they are put back into the sea. And we learned something more.Earlier this afternoon the voyage crew could show how much they learnedabout ship and rigging in the pinrail chase. The 3 watches werecompeting teams and our new crew members; Colette, Ayden and Odindefended the crews honour. Finding pins, tying or untying knots andbeing washed down by a 'tropical squall', Everybody joined and it wasserious business with a lot of laughing.Now we're sailing on into the sunset and prepare to drop the anchortomorrow.Keep you updated.Janke