Position 23.24.158N 018.56.520W
We sailed through yesterday afternoon and
evening uneventfully - sailing as close to our chosen route as we could whilst
managing our bearing to the wind at the same time. Our engines have remained
off apart from a brief period of less than an hour to help get us up into
better wind.
There was an unusual and interesting
argument on the radio played out on channel 16 for all to hear between 2 large
commercial ships arguing as to who should give way to who and on what side. One
showed a clear lack of understanding of the rules of the sea and the other made
it clear he was not happy about it!
First light came and revealed that the boat
had received a makeover in the night. Much of the boat has gone from white to a
dusty Dayle Winton orangey-brown. The winds blowing across from the desert on
land have turned Bamarandi a different colour and will take some hosing down to
clean off!
The dolphins have left us alone although
Caitlin spotted some Kyle Whales in the distance and reported them to us all
but we could not see them. Maybe next
time.
We had been flying our gennaker (like a
spinnaker but a different size and shape) out front as the winds were in the
right direction and at the right speed when to a loud bang it let go at the top
of the mast and was in the sea in an instant. We were all on the flybridge - so
quickly hatched a plan to retrieve it. The bottom was still attached to the
boat as was the line on the side and by now the sail was trailing out under the
middle of the boat between the hulls.
We released the bottom of the sail and sent
it all out under the boat trailing behind us, then winched it closer with the
remaining line attached - then hauled it out into the cockpit. The sail is
undamaged and fully intact which is good news – the end of the line holding it
at the top of the mast must have been chaffing on something as it had parted.
The line is re-usable and we will re-attach and reset it when we are able.
At 1pm we had covered 376nm and have 519nm
to go. After covering 189nm in the first 24 hours that means we covered 187nm
in the next 24 hours so our average speed remains at around 7.8nm under
sailpower apart from one very brief period.
It’s a warm but hazy day and visibility is
restricted by the total cloud cover as far as the eye can see. Last night we
had completely clear skies and saw several shooting stars so the cloud has
appeared early morning and stayed with us.
The weather report tells us the winds will
be good for sailing with nothing coming at us we should be concerned about.
Everyone fine on board, some sporting new
items of clothing, all enjoying the passage.