Firstly – am delighted to hear that some are reading this – hi to
everyone! Having bashed on for the last few days about the windless days
and nights I thought I should describe them a little more.
Daytime is characterised by a 360 degree horizon of blue on blue – the
azure blue of the Atlantic against the lighter (sky?) blue. Along the
horizon, almost full circle, are fluffy cumulus clouds, some sitting fully
visible ‘our’ side of the line, others with just the top parts visible as they
sit beyond our line of sight (which is about six miles). Between us and
the horizon is literally nothing but sea, unless we are spoilt by some
acrobatics from the local fauna – mainly flying fish, but occasionally other
fish, dolphins and whales. The last few days the sea itself has been
gently and slowly rolling, perhaps a maximum of a metre swell, with just a few
ripples on its surface as the weak wind made little impression. The sky is
clear and blue, with rare clouds other than those on the horizon, with of course
the sun bearing down on us. Having said that, although its been around 34
degrees, it doesn’t generally feel ridiculously hot and we haven’t been ‘burnt
up’ by the rays.
At night, which is prefaced by the expected beautiful sunsets in front and
seemingly all around us, it quickly becomes very dark. The moon is
presently waning and not rising till well after midnight, so on a clear night
the sky is full of stars. Apparently there are 6,000 visible stars in our
universe, of which around 2,500 are visible at any one time. I reckon I
could see most of those last night! Occasional shooting stars provide our
own fireworks, and the planets Venus and Mars are very bright right now.
I’ve seen just two planes while on night watch (presumably South America to
Europe), while satellites crossing the sky provide another reminder of the
modern world. On a couple of nights the mist has risen and has seemed to
close in around our boat, making helming feel like steering through a
tunnel. Beware going too far left or right and hitting the sides!
Once the moon rises the sky is lighter, the sea can be seen again, and then
we have beautiful sunrises behind us – generally a mellower set of oranges and
pinks than sunset. And then another day begins!
Of course, none of the above makes any sense of today’s headline.
Just after midnight last night we were caught up by a squall, which increased
the winds and brought a tropical downpour which lasted all night. You
might think we were a bit upset – in contrast we were delighted as we picked up
speed and got on with the business of sailing rather than drifting to St
Lucia!
Thanks for reading
Colin
CBO