Thursday, 25th February, 2016

Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Thu 25 Feb 2016 15:18
Noon Position: 00.24S 41.01W

Daily run: 132 logged miles

The disturbed weather and sea continued throughout the night. The engine was on and off with sails up and down. It was impossible to catch any sleep as the mainsail would bang about furiously in an awkward sea making the entire boat shudder and putting huge stress on the rigging and that in only 10 knots of wind, a gentle breeze, but we have reached the zone where the northeast trade winds have started to appear. The doldrums, however, will continue for several days yet as we make our way north along the northeast coast of Brazil. We are currently just 30 miles south of the equator and will be in the northern hemisphere tomorrow. It was February 18th last year when we crossed the equator on our way to the Galapagos from the Las Perlas Islands.

Late this morning the northeast trade winds gathered in strength and billowed our sails. Our speed improved to over 7 knots and the risk of banging of sails disappeared…(until the next time). Just before posting this entry a squall came along and gave us near gale force winds, luckily from the right direction, to send us along at 8.5 knots under full sail.

Eric