Midnight we had made it as far as 17:55.4N 31:47.1W –  Sunday 7th of December, 2008.

Engine Time – 1.56 Hours

Another fantastic day for sailing, the only problem was we had the wind behind us which makes it all the more difficult to get anywhere. Believe it or not but the more powerful point of sail for Silky is at 90 degrees or on the beam as they say. So during the day we tracked the wind at about 120 degrees to the starboard quarter. This gave us the best happy medium with reasonable speed and a reasonable amount of velocity made good.

The evening was a different story and was the fist time we came into a squall, there was a lot of lightening in the distance and before long we had winds up in the high 30’s. After reefing in just about all sail, we flew along for a couple of hours only to have the winds drop back off to a light breeze by the morning.

Special comments by Fiona:  The lightening in the distance lit up the entire ocean around us.  It was pretty amazing.  I used to hate night sailing but out here is a different story.  It’s so clear, the ocean lit up by the stars and moon, that you can see perfectly well.  Not to mention the nights being balmy, requiring no more than shorts and a t-shirt.  Perfect!

Day 138

Traveling Direction – West

Wind Direction – North East East – moderate

Swell – Moderate

Average Speed –  4.5

Top Speed – 8.5 Knots Through the water

Distance Covered – 108.0 Nautical Miles