Dear Family and Friends,

 

Another very lumpy day at sea, as Alan has said ‘up there with the Atlantic storm’ in its white knuckle, thrown about passage. We have had to run much more downwind than our course, currently aiming for Nicaragua, north of Panama. The wind is 25-30 knots sometimes a little more, the waves are 5m, we are riding on a white water raft as we surge forward on the crest of the waves. This may be the nearest I come to surfing. Alan is now hand steering after little sleep last night, so that we don’t get caught by a sideways on wave. The wave forces are coming from 2 directions, from the easterly wind and from the deflection of the land which is seemingly causing super waves and huge troughs into which Jenny occasionally pitches. If we are moving around the boat, the forces are enough to pick you off your feet and slam you into whatever is in the way, no amount of hanging on, for me, is effective.

 

Looks like a later arrival at San Blas Is. if we don’t change our mind and go straight to Panama!

 

Looks like a long and exhausting day ahead of us.

 

All our best,

 

Lynne and Alan