Wednesday, 27th January, 2016

Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Wed 27 Jan 2016 13:10
Noon Position: 15.34S 16.58W

Daily run: 152 logged miles

Having the parasailor up is all very well in stable down-wind weather conditions, but it is not very good at coping with squalls. Yesterday’s benign conditions did not look as though the few squalls on the horizon had much venom in them and so we decided to leave the parasailor where it was for the night, but be ready to adjust the autopilot if the wind shifted because of squalls. These duly came with the first one not affecting the course to steer much, but the second came with rain and a 40 degree wind shift. Ideally, it should have come down, but the temptation to leave it up and keep up with the fleet was too great. So, up it stayed, but without the autopilot. The Hydrovane would have to take care of the direction of the boat and the angle to the wind. Surprisingly, it coped very well even when the squally winds reduced to a gentle breeze once a squall had passed, but this morning a venomous squall with 26 knots of wind skewed the boat some 60 degrees and almost causing Luna Quest to broach.

As the forecast is for more wind tomorrow and continued squalls, we decided to take the big sail down. An opportunity soon came with a lull in the wind and together we managed to subdue the parasailor into its sock and lower it down the fore hatch. We then set the two foresails on their poles sending Luna Quest on its merry way to Salvador.

Eric