Day 16 - 18:27.39N 48:41.03W

Samantha
Wed 1 Feb 2012 19:40

18:27.39N 48:41.03W

Day 16 (15 days of sailing)

Distance Travelled – 2361

Distance To Go – 787 (Approx. – this is as the crow flies)

Tues 31 Jan

Well, it’s been a tough couple of days with plenty of squalls, rolling seas and now fairly substantial waves. The wind is fine, just when a squall hits it gets pretty high.

Squalls go like this: (they generally happen at night)

You are sailing happily along, the genoa is reefed for the night and after a while the gentle rocking of the boat with the fairly constant noise of the waves against the hull and the wind lulls you into a relaxed state. But then, out of nowhere the wind picks up – it goes from 15 to 20, 22, 26, 27, 28 and sometimes up to 38 knots in a blink of an eye. The wind is now howling through the rigging and the boat is flying along at an alarming speed. So in a mild panic ( well that is me) you jump up, adjust the auto pilot to a higher sensitivity, unfurl the genoa a little, run around to the other side of the cockpit, grab the winch and as fast as you can winch in the sail. Phew; your heart is racing. All is OK, and with a further reefed in sail the boat feels calmer, and all is back in control. You look at the wind gauge and you notice, as quickly as it arrived, the wind has dropped back down and you are left calmly bobbing along as if nothing has happened. To keep the boat a little steadier you need to unfurl the genoa out a little… And so it continues.

The last three nights have seen two or three squalls a night, leaving both Erwin and I a little jaded. It’s amazing how quickly your body gets used to the rhythm of the night watches, and less sleep, but after three nights of heightened activity the days (which have been lovely, beautiful sailing weather with good wind and clear blue skies) are now spent lounging, trying to catch up on lost sleep.

The girls have been brilliant. I think the thief who stole their Nintendo DS have done us a great favour – the girls have been reading ( school ) and then creating an unbelievable amount of clothes – dresses, tops, cardigans, belts etc for Isabel’s dolls – a veritable clothing factory in their room. They are happy and we have been able to rest. Brilliant.

Roll on Antigua now…

Will update in a few days! Starting to count down now .....

Jane, Erwin, Sofia, and Isabel

xxxx