“if there’s no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”

“if there’s no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”

well, we guess this logbook should be mainly dedicated to the weather…with a little
thanksgiving cheer on the side! What a difference 48 hours makes, only this time
two days ago we were typing another logbook watching the speed dial hit 11.7
knots and hearing 30 knots of wind hitting us and the sails. soon after we
dropped the mainsail and went to bed for the night but woke to even more wind!
the girls from white watch report that the wind reader reached 45 knots before
breaking from the strain!

But then it eased away, slowly and a bit
timidly we started shaking out reefs and swapping the storm jib for the number
1. by last night everything was fully out and we were still making way but the
wind was really falling away and the swell was shaking the boat and the rigging.
9.30 this morning saw the blue watch drop the mizzen, mainsail and the jib soon
followed at our watch handover at 12. Then started a long day of rocking and
rolling – incredibly uncomfortable motions, doing only 0.7 knots over the ground
towards our destination. Whilst Sam sat with the wheel fully tied down reading
Jack Reacher novels we stayed warm downstairs with a cup of chai tea and Pirates
of the Caribbean…and this was appreciated even more so when Jet came
downstairs to report that it was snowing outside! well, we are technically in
Iceberg territory, but seriously!? Snow!?

Slowly but surely the wind has
returned – all the sails are set and we even set the main topsail in the middle
of the night and are now heading along at 8 knots towards Cape Horn. The Europa
is still screaming along in 35-40 knots of wind and the Oosterschelde had a
slightly better day than us as well, but we are moving and gracefully as well –
no more rolling around like a pig in mud! 752 miles to Cape Horn reads the
GPS…only 90 miles knocked off today. We even saw the Oosterschelde the other
day, looking like a ghost ship on the horizon. Herkki makes the point that the
only things we have seen other than ourselves for the last 25 days since the
Chatham Islands have been one plane and now, one ship. It was an odd feeling
staring at them through the binoculars! Who knows how we will cope when we reach
the Falklands!

Our resident American Richard is also pleased to report
that today is Thanksgiving! Things that we are thankful for…the wind, for
returning to us; our thermals, for keeping us warm against this ridiculously
cold weather; the Albatross, for keeping us company and the Tecla…during the
strongest of winds and the most alarming of waves she kept going and never ever
gave us cause for fear or alarm, she keeps our sleeping time smooth (we’ll
ignore today), our downtime warm and as we come towards the end of a whole
November on board we are very very thankful to her. Unfortunately she doesn’t
have any turkey in her freezers but there’s always something tasty for dinner so
I’m sure we’ll survive!

751 miles to go now…we are coming Cabo de
Hornos! With love, The Red Watch.