Day 6
The wind has now veered and is from our Starboard quarter. Not quite far enough aft to go to twin headsails, but plenty far enough to get us rolling. We have 2 reefs and a poled out No 3 which probably seems a bit small in the 18 to 20 knot conditions , but in reality keeps us up above 6 knots in the lulls , yet still in control when it gusts up. We have been down to 3 reefs for a bit but luckily the wind calmed down over night which allowed us to rest.
The days are hot and when on watch we spend the mornings reading inside , and the afternoons outside , as the sun goes behind the sails. Nightime sees us in shorts and a deck jacket by the end of the night but oilies are no longer required as the extreme humidity of the first two nights seems to have passed. Each dusk brings us a slightly bigger moon , slightly higher in the sky and we are looking forward to the lighter nights that this will bring. We get little squalls under the puffy clouds , but have yet to experience any rain or large increase in wind with them . No doubt this will come!
The Monitor windvane has steered magnificently since the first morning so we have relatively little to do except check everything every ten minutes or so and have a scan around. A ship pased quite close yesterday so it IS necessary to keep a watch ,although we have not seen any fishing boats for 48 hours. We have 105 miles to the 3/8ths way across and keep on working out ever more obstruse fractions to celebrate – 9/32 nds was a particular highpoint- so you can tell that we are in a hurry to get there!
I presume that obstruse is a hybrid of obscure and obtuse. Cracking race last night in 25-35. didn’t do very well though but came home caked in salt – can’t be bad, especially when there is a torrential hot shower to come home to (just thought I’d put that bit in to make you envious). Keep itcoming. I look out for new entries every day.
John
I think halfway between obscure and obtuse is about right! Dyslexia rules KO!