Sylph has provided Martina with a near perfect introduction to life on board with a fair wind, following seas, sunny skies, warm weather and a good day’s run of 139 miles. We have been running wing on wing since leaving Valparaiso and this afternoon with the wind a little lighter we set the spinnaker Martina had brought with her from her own boat, Eureka, a mini 6.5 currently in storage back in Barcelona. While the mini 6.5s are obviously a lot smaller than Sylph they crowd on a lot of canvas for their size so we thought that the sail might be suitable, but it was in fact a bit small and we are now back to the more conventional cruising mode with mainsail to one side and genoa poled out on the other. Still we both had fun.

Now we are closing the coast and expect to make Bahia Tongoy, a remote bay on Chile’s desolate northern coastline, in the early hours of the morning.

All is well.

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