During the early hours of day three at the end of Skip’s watch at 4am, 15
knots of wind blew in from the north east a welcome relief from the really light
airs that only gave us 4-6 knots for the previous 24 hours. Saying that Beltana
II sailed really well in the light airs and we held our own or actually improved
our position over some of the other yachts in view of our AIS system. She kept
going at 3-4.5 knots in these light airs although 1 knot was probably due to to
help from the Canary current.
Last nights dinner was an extension to the Italian theme by Graham with a
lovely Cacciatori Chicken dish whose recipe was passed down from family to
family, served on lovely fluffy rice (done in the pot Heather) accompanied by
our last Santorini white wine (a decent Greek drop indeed cellared on Beltana
II’s last voyage through the Greek Islands – thanks Jerry), and a lovely Spanish
Roja for those with a passion for red (Paul et al).
The light breezes were a delightful sail over night testing our light
weather skills, with a half moon rising at about 9pm in initially a star studded
sky, that later clouded over such that the sunrise was very disappointing.
We are now hurtling along at 8 knots with all three sails set, the wind is
at 90 degrees on the beam, still from the North West at about 14 knots.
Paul has announced pizza for lunch......looking like a 150N Mile day today
or maybe a bit more!