20’51.5S 033’02.1W course 175′ speed 5,3kn, 18-12-2023
We have just turned of the engine once again.. around 16:00 board time (our old 17:00) the wind dropped, just like yesterday.. and during the night the wind started increasing again, so at watch handover of 00:00 we were able to set the mainsail again.. with the wind being just a little bit light, we waited until and hour and a half into our watch to turn off the engine. And here we are, beautiful starry night, hardly a cloud on the horizon, no moon and a small breeze to keep us gliding through the black black water.
And as mentioned above, we have also shifted time. We are now on UTC -2 hours. That would give us the sunrise just before 6 in the morning and sunset just after 19:00 in the evening.
As it was a Sunday today, we did not do too much. It was warm, a very sunny and relaxed day. Joanna prepared our swimming pool on the aft, to cool our feet while sitting in the shade. Spread out over the deck, most of us were reading a book, clean washing was hanging out and spreading a very nice fragrance over the deck. We had a Sunday roast for dinner, with baked potatoes, broccoli and coleslaw and just before dinner, we had our one beer on the aft. The mood was nice, happy faces, joking around and so the picture of the day is also fitting. Bob won with a picture of Karsten en Karen doing dishes and taking it very seriously. As they should 🙂
The winds are getting lighter as we sail out of the trade wind area and into the so called horse latitudes. Small moving low and high pressure area’s are starting to influence the direction of the wind more and more.. and so in the coming days we will have to battle some variable and light winds. Hopefully the sea state will change accordingly, because so far, the mainsail has only had to come down, because the flogging was just too bad.
All is well, jet
Rocking and rolling
22’35.2S 033’08.5W course 213′ speed 5,9, 19-12-2023
There have been easier days of sailing then these last 24 hours. We have been maneuvering between showers, changing courses and having to start the engine due to lack of wind. Again at 16:00 the wind completely disappeared. We took down the mainsail at 16:30. When we had the mainsail down, all of a sudden the wind turned 180 degrees. Starting in the north east and then coming from the south west. All sails that were still up got backed, but as it was a light wind and the engine was already on, we just took up the slack in the sheets and kept the sails in the middle.
Now, 1:30 board time, there is a light breeze from the North North East, but it is just not enough to keep our sails filled in the waves. Due to the showers that sometimes have changing winds, and increasing winds, the waves are confused, a cross sea, and steep/short. The movement in the top of the mast is just too violent, so the gaffs want to swing from one side to the other.. you can imagine my frustration… we have wind.. yet we are under engine.. For now!
The weather forecast has been fairly accurate up to today. We were supposed to have no wind according to our old weather report, now the new weather report says we should have 13 knots of wind.. I do believe the new one is correct, so we just have to get grib files more frequently.
During the afternoon we did a small firedrill and then washed the deck with salt water. Which was then rinsed off by the showers off 16:00h! Karsten and Tim tried to use the rain as a shower, which worked for the most part, they were able to wash their hair! The rinsing of the shampoo took a little extra help of the outside showerhead though.
All is well, jet
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