Monday 27th
Day 8 saw the sun rising over Gust of Wind, cruising along (under motor) close to the mid-point of our Atlantic crossing, and set the tone for an unforgettable day. First light saw the guys on watch having to remind themselves that they were, in fact, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean as the conditions would sooner be related to a still, winters morning on the Langebaan lagoon. Our morning coffee and Corn Flakes came with a head-scratching session as we tried to figure out where the wind was going to come from.
After a beautiful, all be it frustrating, morning switching between motor and sail, searching for that ever-elusive perfect angle we decided to make the most of what we were dealt. We turned our focus from the sailing and set the table for a slow lunch and a cheeky drink or two. Once the food had settled and a couple drinks had been knocked down, we decided to put the tender down and have a bit of fun.
Six of the crew added their names to an extremely short (presumably) list of people who can say they’ve wakeboarded 1,300 nautical miles from the nearest land-mass. However, a perfect afternoon of mid-Atlantic wakeboarding and swimming was only the start of what a couple of us deemed one of the best days of our lives. As soon as we got out of the water we were joined by a school of 50 plus dolphins who came to play on the bow and show off some of their acrobatic ability. Justin tried his best to reciprocate the display by climbing over the pulpit and down the anchor support lines to get as close to the action as possible. Either distressed by J’s antics, or simply unamused by our speed (or lack thereof) they decided the game was over and parted ways with Gust of Wind.
Not 20 minutes after the dolphins’ disappearance we crossed paths with a pod of Pilot Whales who gave us a wave as they headed off in the opposite direction a hundred meters or so from us. Our terrible Monday winded down (or up) with a stellar braai by Chef Hardy, a beautiful sunset, Jägermeister, and some top-quality team bonding over a bottle of Vodka or two.
In all it was a truly remarkable day none of us will soon forget, oh and we also managed to cover a few more miles of this race today.
Signing off,
Gust of Wind