38’27.9S 043’03.4W course 197′ speed 3,6
First of all, we would like to wish everybody a happy new year from a happy crew on board the Tecla! We hope this new year may bring you all you whish for, new years greetings from: Russell, Joanna, Josu, Bob, Andy, Andrew, Karen, Pedro, Thomas, Tim, Karsten, Riva, Myrthe and Jet!
And then the story of today! Well, today we thought we were in for yet another night of force 7 winds, gusting 8. So we started preparing early as we were no longer prepared to give up any of our West! With the strong winds so far, we have had to bear off every now and then, to ease the pressure on the rigging, but by doing so, we ended up going east some of the time.. And we are fed up with it! So we went to work!
We took down the storm jib, more as a precaution then anything else. It is the one sail I worry about with strong winds, as it is not easy to take down once the wind is up to a gale force… With that down, we prepared the storm staysail as well, so big staysail down, small one up. But then there is no pressure on the front of the ship, so we started working on a new construction.. the old forestaysail on the mainmast! It took us some hours and some tweeking, but in the end, we got it up!!
Sadly enough, still not enough pressure on the frontship to sail with, so engine is helping us along. So, all ready, fully prepared for wind….. and then we got stuck with a force 6, possibly some gusts had a force 7… but no 8! ‘
Waves have build up in the last days though, 4 to 5 meter waves and still a strong headwind, slow us down very badly. But we are not going away from our goal any more! So that is good!
During the night we will start getting our old rig back together.. hopefully we can sail in the morning of this new year! Looking forward to it!
All is well on board, Happy new year! Jet
