Where effort turns into motion

18°56.3’S 105°50.8’W // course 233° // speed 3,4kn

Laptop on my lap, thinking of what to write. My arms feel heavy. My fingers feel like they should be touching something other than the cold metal of the laptop or the soft plastic of the keys. Callus brushes against callus, and with the salt still lingering on my skin, it feels like I can’t fully straighten my fingers.

Is a good feeling in my muscles and fingers. A happy one. A sense of accomplishment. Just now, Tooske and I lowered the middle jib and set the big jib with just the two of us, in less than 30 minutes.

The air is light, the waves still fairly big, but the sea state is calm. So if we can keep pressure in the sails, we can still make 3 to 4 knots with just 7 to 8 knots of wind. It’s not easy. Sometimes the speed drops to 2 knots and the waves take hold of Tecla’s hull, rolling us and shaking the sails with it.

At the beginning of the watch, the engine was on just to keep us moving a little. Sandrine’s watch had a beautiful breeze of 14 knots for most of the time, until the wind died around 23:30. It returned briefly with 10 to 11 knots, allowing us to turn off the engine just as we took over.

The wind seems to come and go in pockets. Sometimes it disappears altogether for a while… and then returns.

As we went through the first half hour, barely keeping the sails full, I looked at Tooske and she nodded. “Now we need that big MoFo.” She smiled: “Yes, we do.” Laughing, I said it was just the two of us, because we’d need Patrick on the helm—the balance of the sails would be completely off. Patrick looked at us and said, “But Jet, you said we were not in a hurry.” Which is true—I did say that. But getting that big jib up would also be very satisfying.

And so off we went. And up the MoFo went.

What a machine.

As soon as it was set, you could feel the pull straight away. Instead of 2.5 knots, we were cutting through the water at 4 knots, with stable sails—no flogging whatsoever.

The wind is expected to decrease gradually, turning very light during the afternoon. We hope to keep sailing until then. And when the high-pressure area settles in, we’ll make the most of our Sunday—possibly with another swim.

All is well on board,
Jet