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Greetings to Family and
Friends
Easter Sunday –
sunshine
This
afternoon Chris downloaded our emails with the latest weather information and
the files showed that the wind would ease considerably by midnight. It is still
blowing at 27 to 28 knots depending which side of a wave we are and water is
being thrown right over the top of the boat, sitting outside in the sun is
precarious. There is very little jib out and a double reefed main but because we
are close hauled and beating into the sea it sounds as though we are in a
permanent train crash. We are rattling on looking forward to the calm down
needless to say.
Easter Monday - hotting
up
It is
the midnight change of watch and we are both disappointed that far from easing,
the wind has actually increased to 29/30 knots and is putting up a good old
howl. Skipper's glad to crawl into his bunk.
Ah!
01.20 hours and the howling is calming down, the angle of heel has slackened
slightly, the slamming has lightened and the torrents of water coming over are
more occasional. 22 knots of wind – it feels like heaven and at C25º the temperature feels good
too. Our speed has dropped of course, in the space of an hour or so we have gone
from 7.2 to 5.3 knots and I ought to offer more jib out but at the moment I just
want to enjoy this for a bit longer and celebrate with a cup of
tea.
At about 06.00 hrs this morning we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.
It has gradually been getting hotter since we left NZealand and the thermometer
now registers C30º; duvet, hats, socks and fleeces have been cast aside and the pure
cotton is out again. The wind has stayed around the 20 knots mark. Still close
hauled we now have more jib out and a single reefed mainsail averaging a speed
of about 5½ knots
with 360 miles to go.
So far this has turned out to be one of our toughest
passages and we will not be sad to have done with it. Living at an angle of 25
degrees is hard even without the lurching. However, the wind has dropped a bit
more and we now have a full jib and single reefed main. The weather forecast
suggests we could well end up motoring the last
part!
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