The Flying Lentil The log of Festina Lente, Sigma 38

Blimey – talk about a hard day ( and night ) at the office! Yesterdays wind was all over the shop , 8 to 24 knots and equally variable in direction under a very squally airstream , so we had to work for our miles . At 30 degrees C hoisting and lowering sails is hot hot work and by midnight we had had enough so lashed the main , put up the trysail and poled out no 3 and went to bed. It was one of my better decisions as literally 5 mts after coiling everything away we blasted off with 30 knots up our chuff and blinding rain, and have had 25 to 30 ever since. The boat is comfortable , surfing off under the gusts and maintaining 6.5 in the lulls , but relaxing it is not .

One of the problems is what to wear when working on deck in the rain. Under oilies you are very hot and probably get just as wet through sweat. Lyndas solution was simple and the sight of her in the middle of the night , slabbing in a reef dressed only in a life jacket and harness is one I will forever treasure.

The gribs did show 21 knots for this period – and if you add 15% I guess that does nearly represent the base wind . We look forward to todays update with interest, but look forward even more to  try to catch up on sleep so as to be ready for a landfall tomorrow.

1300 UT 13 38 N 66.00W All well.