Day 12, frigate bird

04’10.6N 030’06.2W
5kn course 185′

Light winds and rain
The last 24 hours have been everything between beautiful sailing, a downpour of rain and engine on because there is no wind.
Currently we are under engine. The wind died out after a big big squall and we can just keep the sails full with a little help from our mechanical friend. We seem to have found a current running against us a little, speeds are not very high over ground.

On the bird side of the news, the first Frigate bird has been spotted! Only one, that circled us for a little bit, but then decided it had other things to do.

During the afternoon, with everybody awake, we had the mainsail down for some work on the mast and shoe of the gaff. We got a new piece of rubber in between the shoe and the mast, to prevent wear and tear on the mast. Erik went up in the mast on the bosuns stool to make sure everything was in good working order in the mast, which seems easy as I write it down. But it was quite the exercise in strength and stamina, as we were rocking quite a bit without the mainsail up. High in the mast Erik had to hold on to the mast like a monkey every now and then! But when all was done and the mainsail went back up, sailing was quite beautiful. Longer voyages like this one bring with them special maintenance. Not just the set of sails that needs to be changed before the South Easterly tradewind. But also anti wear and tear, a vigilant eye to any changes on lines, any place where they rub up on each other needs to be protected or the leed of the line needs to be changed. So no rest for the crew, we keep busy during our watch!

The last few days the squalls have been developing around us. These latitudes bring warmth and sun, but with that comes a lot of evaporation of water and thus, some big downpours! The clouds build up during the day and become small weather systems of their own, with their own wind direction and wind strength. So far no strong winds, but sudden increases have been there. During the night we often see lightning on the horizon, but as morning approaches, it all settles down.