Dawn and dolphins
Starcharger
Wed 11 Nov 2020 08:36
Two things that always bring a smile to my face! Today, I had both at the same time. With a nail pairing of a moon, and Venus still showing, the sun rose behind clouds in the east, lighting the whole sky in red, yellow and pink splendour. At the same time I heard the unmistakable sound of dolphins breathing, and round the bow (where else?) were half a dozen playing and fishing. Such a shame that no one else was awake to share it.
We are in the ITCZ (doldrums) good and proper now....light winds so that most of the time the sails just seem to flog back and forth pushing us forward at barely 4 knots. Then a squall arrives, driving rain and winds over 40 knots! Suddenly we are doing 8 knots, it lasts four minutes before moderating and we spend a further 15 minutes doing over 7 knots. Then it’s gone leaving us wallowing and wet, at least the boat is clean!
Under 1400 miles to go, arrival will be dependent upon getting through the ITCZ, maybe we will motor, maybe not.
Fair winds
Alasdair