Frustration meets relief......
Sequentia
Fri 24 Nov 2017 13:37
That was 72 hrs ago.......then.....wind starts to drop....
No problem. Code 0 time. Whoops! The halyard is stuck in the head sail top furling mechanism. Impossible to get loose. This means mast climb. Sun is setting and as safety has highest priority we will sacrifice speed over night and will wait until dawn as both wind and waves are supposed to drop.
And yes, it dropped......completely. Anyway, a 3 minute session on top of the mast solved the problem. We just have to wait for some wind.......wait wait wait. Expressions then heard on Sequentia slowly fueled by frustration; "wind will come", "we have time", "where are the tradewinds", "we have to head south", "there is wind north", "where is everyone else", "whatever we do, we are not heading east", "I told you we must head down there", "we are not heading backwards", "that's a 40 foot boat overtaking us, we must be falling back", "I am going to bed", "others must be using engine by now", "email the rally committee and ask about the penalty factor used for engine use".
That made it easy; the factor used to calculate penalty is in their discretion. Which basically means you are damned if you do and damned if you don't! Ok, let's go for it.....not what we expected this early, but it's engine time! We tried a bit of sail now and then, but no it's engine time. And thanks to Anita feeding us with position and alternative weather reports, the frustration on Sequentia is calming down. Given we stick to our original strategy, we have been doing fairly well apart from loosing some speed the second night.
And engine time means calm seas, time to relax, enjoy and start emptying the fridge and freezer and dig into the fruit and vegetables which are riping much quicker than the vegetable seller told us. Avocado and pears are on the menu. Thanks to Ben, an Avocado is not just an avocado! The dolphins are playing around the boat and we are happy!
48 hrs later and 210 liters of diesel lighter. We finally have some wind and we are moving. The discussion if we should bring 5 or 10 Jerry cans with fuel has paid off. Let's enjoy while we can! Weather forecast is telling us we will enter an are of little wind again tomorrow!
Photos will follow!