As foreshadowed by the forecast, the wind came up in the early part of the day and by 08.30 the sails were up and we were on port tack, goosewinged with full main and the genny poled out. Fantastic to turn off the engine and go back to some peace and quiet on Boni Venti. We’re currently making 6 kts over the ground (pretty much the same speed as we were making under engine, to conserve fuel) in 12-14 kts of wind. Sunny blue skies in the morning, clouded over by mid-afternoon with a building sea state and consistent wind. 40% humidity so hot and sticky.
As we progress west, we need to adjust ship’s time to reflect the daylight hours, so yesterday we went back an hour so that it gets light c 07.30 (as opposed to 08.30) and dark around 19.00 rather than 20.00. We’ll move back one hour for each 15 degrees progress that we make to St Lucia in the west.
Beautiful sunset yesterday evening, with dolphins swimming under the bow of Boni Venti and flying fish all around the boat. The odd seabird too, which is interesting given that we’re c 1,000 miles from the African coastline.
Also interesting that the depth of the Atlantic at our current position, as shown by the chart on our chart table, is 6,300m. It would be fascinating to know what sealife exists six kilometres beneath Boni Venti’s keel!
Today’s photo is of Robert and Karen on the foredeck yesterday afternoon after the dolphin spotting.
May the wind continue to blow.......
Jonathan.
67A61AD12AEC4CC38EABC2CE2E6B314C