Cold, colder, coldest!

Cold, colder, coldest!
This afternoon the wind was predicted to change from a
north east to a south west. A pretty big change in a weather pattern that gave
us a lot of wind in the last few times it shifted like that (once of cape Gabo
and twice during the Tall Ships Regatta)! So we where prepared, kept the reef in
the mainsail even if it sometimes seemed we could take it out and waited for the
change. Around 3 in the afternoon it came. Very gradually the wind turned, it
started to rain harder and so we prepared to gybe. And just as we where ready to
gybe with Emily at the helm… the wind changed 90 degrees and all the sails
just came over! Backstays out, backstays in, sheets and preventers to the other
side and all of a sudden we were on course, almost close hauled on a starboard
tack! It all went very smooth and the wind increased a little, but nothing
compared to the other wind shifts. And then the temperature dropped! We
measured 15 degrees during the day.. after the wind shift we were left with 8
degrees!

Right now it is the coldest we have had it so far. The sky has
pretty much cleared up, stars and moon are out and the air is cold but dry.
Sailing is beautiful, sheets out a bit further then close hauled, wind from the
south by east 15 to 18 knots and a speed of 6 knots heading 100 degrees over the
ground. A bit more to the south, the Europa has a totally different wind though!
They have a south west a bit stronger and are almost double our speed! Strange
how close we are but the weather is so different!

Time to bring out some
hot chocolate!

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