Down wind sailing – mile trashing course, ocean water spilling by!
Finally!
WIND! We are sailing downwind on course to the Azores and the miles are rolling
by. The ship is also still rolling, but the sails are no longer flapping and the
miles we make are fast and to the goal! Of course this has not been the case all
day, when we set sail this morning at 06:00 hours, we started on a portside tack
(sails over starboard for the first time in almost 3 weeks), Gijs and Tony gibed
the ship at 09:00 hours to a starboard tack, but could not sail course, still
about 30 degrees off. Then around Sunset the wind eased out a bit… With
anticipation we ate our dinner, finishing our plates to the last rice grain as
not to upset the weather and hoping the slight little breeze that turned
favorably, would stay all night. Even if that meant only a speed of 3 knots..
So far so good, and even better, the wind increased again; giving us
speed and the sails the well deserved full belly. Now sailing with a speed
between 7,2 and 5,7 knots we have 251 miles to go, with 1 day and 14 hours on
the GPS…
Other then setting the sails and the gibe, it has been a
quiet day. Small jobs to be done and a perfect day to dry some washing outside.
Schools of Portuguese men of war (a purple/blue jelly fish with a sort of sail
sticking out of the water) have been passing us by for days now. They are a
funny sight when seen from a ship (when you are in the water with them, make
sure you get out, fast) as they seem to be making their way somewhere, with
purpose, in stead of just drifting with the wind. Some of them even seem to be
tacking, making their way up into the wind. Well we can tell them, they will get
anywhere faster if they would just go downwind.