Sunday, 8th November, 2015

Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Sun 8 Nov 2015 10:48
Noon Position: 27.34S 37.06E

Daily run: 159 logged miles

All day yesterday we had our genoa furled to the extent that the tear in the sail would not be exacerbated. Unfortunately, it leaves the Hydrovane to steer an unbalanced boat, so before night time we put one reef in the mainsail to bring some balance back and allow the Hydrovane to steer a reliable course. During the night, however, the wind piped up to 27 knots sending Luna Quest careering across the waves at great speed despite having a countercurrent of 1 knot, but this morning the wind has calmed and we shook the reef out of the mainsail and deployed our staysail in addition to our half-furled genoa. The two foresails are pulling well and together with a full main we are making 7 knots of speed in a moderate breeze of 15 knots. The forecast is for the wind to die to a light breeze so that we shall have to use our engine to make Richards Bay on Tuesday. Some strong southwesterlies are forecast for Wednesday….

Eric