GHOSTS AND GUAM

Sunday 16 May

Hearing a thing that goes CLANG in the night up the mast is a
very unnerving experience. Well on Friday night it sounded like
...(static)... gone popping. The pressure of the mainsail against
the main spreader from day after day of broadreaching, caused the
rivets holding the spreader to the mast, to fail. At daybreak
Dave had a very bumpy time up the mast at the spreaders,
replacing the rivets. A few hours later we got hit by a forty
knot squall and with full main, had to run with it. There was one
almighty clang this time as all the rivets failed together. We
dropped the sails in record time and once again Dave had a very
trying time up the mast. We are now taking it a bit easier and
...(static)... a couple of things ...(static)...

We were abeam of Guam on Saturday night. This was a big milestone
for us as we are now onto the next chart which has Japan on it.
We should also pass the "1000 Miles to go mark" in the next 24
hours. We have been making very strong progress with the trade
winds and the Mighty Montane is just grunting along. Dave had a
dream that we were no longer on Montane but on the yacht ...(name
lost in the static)... I am still dreaming that we have two extra
crew on board. Last night I was sleeping on deck and awoke to
find they had gone. I immediately woke Dave and told him that we
had lost two people over the side and we had to go back to get
them. The next few minutes that followed involved me ranting
about the two missing people whose names I couldn't remember, and
Dave trying to work out exactly what had gone over the side. I
had just disconnected the auto-pilot and was about to turn the
boat around when I remembered that the two extra crew didn't
really exist. Well, how stupid do you think I felt?

Teresa