22:31.7N 62:12.1W

Day 3

Great – things have calmed down a bit again and I can type this blog in relative comfort.

Having been so pleased with our progress, we came to a virtual halt yesterday afternoon. The wind died and died, and the sails slapped around uselessly. At one point we were going so slowly that the rudder lost any ability to steer the boat and we slowly executed a 180° turn. This was picked up by the more observant of us and corrective action was taken!

Prior to this we had been making good progress. We nearly caught a wahoo, only identified because it leaped into the air and shook the hook off. We were joined again by dolphins, this time by a large family group including lots of babies.

Then, at roughly 6.00 pm, on the lead up to preparing and serving supper, the wind came back with a vengeance, from a completely unexpected direction, and for several hours, we found ourselves beating against the wind, struggling to maintain our northerly course. Fernande struggled manfully with serving up Grace’s tagine, which went down a storm, literally and metaphorically.

The wind continued throughout most of the night, and we were bucketing along at over 8 knots. This may not sound very fast, but with a bright full moon picking out our foaming bow wave, it was exhilarating although rather difficult to sleep below. Thankfully the wind moderated as dawn came, so that now, mid morning, we are back to a relatively comfortable Force 5 from the South East.

Bird life still sparse, but today has yielded a tern and more dramatically a tropic bird with its long, trailing tail.