Day 3 Position 28:54.087N 015:01.10W off Fuerteventura
Gwenhyfar's Travels
Peter
Thu 31 Oct 2019 12:01
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The afternoon sail was splendid - and a great testament
to the virtues of a wooden yawl. Below decks was airy and cool - her cosy
construction meant that everything kept in its place and nothing was thrown
about (including the crew). Above decks the sail plan varied all through the
afternoon. Our favorite configuration was code 1 headsail, full main,
mizzen and the mizzen staysail (we nick named it the funny sail). The funny sail
is yellow and sends a glow all across the decks whilst at the same time
providing much needed shade for all her crew. The funny sail seemed to
damp down the rolling motion from the Atlantic swell. Gwenhyfar was slicing
through the ocean with an easy stride and now eating up the miles. By tea-time
we were making 7 knots with 12 knots across the deck.
Joe was chef for the evening - we had an excellent
supper of Italian lasagne, complete with a bean and prawn exotic side dish!
Delicious and satisfying. The night watch followed and the wind built to 18
knots over deck and we zoomed through the starlit night at 8.5 knots. The
midnight watch team reduced sail, stowing the mizzen staysail and mizzen.
We were still bowling along between 7 and 10 knots...
Joe was on dawn watch with Peter. It was a very exhilarating helm and with a following sea - Joe
quickly mastered the art of surfing our 63 feet of classic wooded yawl down
the 9 foot waves. A new top speed of 15 knots was officially logged. A few
hours later, Joe points.... and we spot a turtle. He was a cool dude - and
surfing south too! Awesome man....!
Gybing again before lunch now sees us about 50 miles
north east of our destination Las Palmas. ETA is 20.00 hours tonight. Spirits
are high this Halloween!
Gwenhyfar
Out
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