Yesterday
started exciting. After dodging several squalls finally a big one came upon us.
Tacking strongly to port we managed to clear him. Just! Within 100
metres to starboard a pandemonium broke loose with a
torrential downpour. And we were sitting prime seats watching it in a lovely
sunshine.
Afternoon
the squalls disappeared and they haven’t come back yet. The sea was settling
down nicely and the movement of the boat became more and more relaxed except for
the occasional slam of the Genoa in a combination of little wind and big
wave.
At night
the moon rose through the clouds. Its reflection looked like a giant slithering
snake chasing our wake caused by the long ocean swell. We were treated with
enough wind to keep sailing. And under a shower of shooting stars we managed to
keep a decent speed.
In the
morning the wind gave way and after some struggle we hoisted our Genaker and put
the Genoa1 to wind. That took some creativity since our Spinnaker Lift block was
snapped long ago and we were using our Spinnaker hoist for our Genoa. Luckily I rigged an
extra Spinnaker hoist in Spain but since I have to work it on
the mast without the help of a winch it took some muscles. At least we still
maintaining approx. 5.5 knots of speed in very light
winds.
During the
week before we left, Alec had a week off from school. We were just too busy getting ready and it was so
much fun for Alec to be able to play with all the kids. During the ocean passage
Isabelle and Alec have been able to make good this extra week off and are now
right on schedule. That means they finished week 17 yesterday and today Alec has
his exam. In Holland it’s called a ¨CITO Toets¨. The results
will be the basis of his half year report card and an evaluation by the
Wereld
School (Alec’s internet
school). We will post the results as soon as we have them! To be
continued.
