27-12 00:20 board time

If you would have been zapped on board this afternoon and would not have known where we were, you would never have guessed that we were on our way to Cape Horn. The sun was out, dolphins playing around, nice breeze and a stunning view of the coastline. We had it all! And then the wind died out, 17 miles of Cape Horn. Due to a still running swell from the West, we had to lower our sails and wait it out once again. It did give us the opportunity to see the Horn really well and enjoy a bit of scenery after not seeing anything else but sky and ocean for over 20 days! What we suspect were Dusky dolphins, were playing around at the bow for hours and gave us a show of water splashing, salto’s and back flips.

The sailing last night and during the morning was stunning. The wind and a few showers carried us far and as the rain abated, the wind decreased some, so we could shake out the reefs and set the bigger jib around noon. We knew we were going to loose the wind for a spell, but had hoped it would be a little later. Maybe after we made it around the Horn.

Now as we did not make it that far, we are on our way, close hauled, reef in main and mizzen, heading South East. The wind should turn and increase some over night and after that turn light again. The next few days will be interesting with reefing, un-reefing, jib changes etc! It sure is a change to downwind sailing, this was also noticed and jokingly mentioned during the watch hand over. “Careful, the wind is supposed to be on your face, not the back of your head. And you do not have to sheet out, we actually need the sheets in this far”.