After a very very slow start with no wind and no motoring, we have found our grove. The start was tough, watching all the cruising division boats motor passed and we sat there in 2 kts wind going nowhere, at one point we were doing 0 kts facing the start line!
To be honest I think that has been the hardest part of week one. All about mental strength and resilience. We have our six crew, most of whom have not helmed before doing shifts of 2 hours on 4 hours off with either Bob or myself with them. They have been amazing and you can see the improvements every day in their helming. The beginning of the week was ‘left a bit, right a bit’ now we stay quiet in all but the rough stuff, no auto pilot used at all, these guys are sailing and steering the whole way.
Our six fabulous crew, who had never met each other before last week, all working as a team to not only sail us across the Atlantic, but also cook clean and look after each other. We had a magical sunset last night with a little music, laughter, flat(ish) seas and wind. Definitely my happy place.
We’ve seen lots of dolphins and got into a pod of hundreds of them and stayed for hours. Also seen a whale, a shark, lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the moon and stars are out of this world amazing. We also saw cape Verdi in the distance, now thankfully behind us.
We are in the trades now heading west thankfully, we do need to put some more south in, but for today we have the cruising chute up heading 250 degrees.