19:31N 34:42W

Pau Amma
Matthew Shaw
Mon 28 Nov 2011 06:54
Yesterday - we were sailing down wind with the Main up and were struggling to control the main sail from not slapping forward as we came down waves faster than the boom. This is the the thing on the trip from Lisbon that smashed up the battens and worse - smashed the back stay roller. It is possible to control this by hand steering to high levels of concentration, however, that is in short supply! We have now made the decision not to use the main sail. Partly as a way to make sure that we get to St Lucia in one piece and partly for peace of mind that they can't damage too much sailing like this. I had to go up the mast yesterday as we were going along to see if I could find the source of the creaking noise that started following a particularly bad period. I couldn't see anything wrong with the mast or any fittings. So I shall do a thorough job checking in St Lucia when the boat isn't rolling around like a pig.
Anyway, all this means that we are going much slower now. Around 5 knots rather than 8. All hopes / thoughts / concerns about positions and other boats are out of the window - the focus is on arriving in St Lucia with as little damage as possible to Pau Amma.
On the positives.... it doesn't rain much here. Its hot all the time - warm enough at night to be in a shirt and in the early afternoon it is so hot that 2 hours on deck at once is all that can be managed! A stark contrast to home.
Lots of flying fish and more birds. No dolphins for a few days.