December 8, position 14.41.296N & 058.13.220W
The night before we ran into heavy weather. Squalls hit us with winds over forty knots and more. Rain in tropical quantities. Lightning and thunder all around us, from midnight to daylight.
Luckily enough we have some fine sailors on board. “Bear away”, “release the main” “follow the wind”!
It all worked out fine. With the lighting all around us and blinding us; with rain coming straight at us and no visibility at times we decided to drop the sails and sail with only our staysail and engine running. Trying to avoid the worst. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.
By the way today we have our first steaming hot day of the crossing with a touch of Trade Winds (not much: eight to fourteen knots).
Femke