Finally!! Some wind!! AND from the right direction.

 

Overnight we did about 4 sail changes to keep the boat moving towards Barbados eventually settling for Old Blue on his own around 0400 zulu. That took us through to mid morning when with the wind increasing to almost 20kts I decided to run with white sails only. So unfurl the yankee to wind shadow the chute, except the chute had twisted the snuffer overnight and was not coming down, so we had to drop it to the deck and wrestle it away without it going into the water and stopping us instantly – quite dangerous a 200 m2 sail full of water – several tonnes.

 

Anyway we managed it but got a small tear in the fabric near the clew, so we will need a bit of sail repair tape to fix that later, then we hoisted the main and off we went – heading towards the Caribbean, for the first time in over a week.

 

But still the NE Trades have not set in, I don’t think Columbus would have ever found the Americas with these winds and as we head into the night they have veered east and occasionally south east, pushing us back above 14N. Ho Hum again... but 10 Dec still looks good for arrival – 16 days for the crossing – and I am sure the ARC boats will also have had one of the slowest crossings in their 25 year history.

 

 

804M to Bridgetown, Barbados

 

Suzie Too Crew