22°13.3’S 076°16.7’W – Course: 290° – Speed: 7.1 knots
Last night we gybed, and did so twice more during the day—once under engine, once under sail. During our midnight manoeuvre, something unexpected happened: a bird seemed to fall from the rigging! A red-billed tropicbird crash-landed on deck and, disoriented, couldn’t figure out how to take off again.
By morning, it had found its way into one of our portholes, resulting in Lisa’s shot of the day—an incredible photo of the bird staring straight into the camera from its little perch. When it finally tried to leave, its wings were too wide for the draining scuppers. Luckily, with a gentle hand from Matthias, it found its way out and soared off into the morning breeze.
Around 09:30 the wind had dropped too much to keep sailing, so we had to start the engine. But by the afternoon we were able to shut it off again. Just before dinner, with the wind looking promising for at least another 24 hours (and hopefully more), we decided to set the topsails. Now that is always a moment. Setting the topsails is no small feat, especially on a port tack, where the boom of the main topsail must swing narrowly past the navigation lights. But when they’re up… oh, when they’re up, they’re beautiful. They billow like wings, catching every whisper of air, drawing us forward with elegance and grace. They make sailors out of us again—even in the softest breeze.
The ocean is giving us a good rocking from time to time, but when the wind holds, conditions are excellent. Our speed varies between 5 and 9 knots, depending on the little gusts that sweep in with the drizzle clouds.
During the afternoon we did an abandon ship drill, which gave us some hillarious moments and pictures of green mars men on the deck!
The temperature is steadily rising now, though there’s still a chill when the sun goes down or when a heavy cloud rolls by. Even this far into the tropics, the air remains pleasantly fresh.
All is well on board.
– Jet
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