Our position @ 1309 local time is 1 36.S 39 24.W
We are motoring along quite well at 7-8kts. There are no winds to speak of now and no waves. So our ride is smooth for the moment. All that could change in an instant with all the squalls we keep having. Last night during Bill's watch one popped up suddenly and really gave us a good drenching and winds backed around until we were in the hove too position. Then the wind backed around the other way and we were sailing again. They are forecast every day in our weather reports.
We did stop the boat long enough for Bill to fix the batten that had worked its way out of the pocket. He put a big bolt with some washers through the sail pocket and the batten. That way it won't work loose again. With the carbon fiber sails that we have that was the only way to fix it. You just can't get an ordinary needle through it. Our friends Rose and Don know that. They helped Bill when we were in Bermuda fix the tack of the mainsail in the same way. It doesn't look pretty but it works well. Of course we had the other bolts replaced when we took it to the sailmaker.
We had a good day of sailing yesterday and only started motoring today at 8:30 am. After our last motoring time we were determined to wait out the wind. But for now it is only 4-7kts. of wind. Of course there was lots of discussion of which sails to put up. We ended up with the full main and the jib poled out to the other side( wing and wing). That seemed to keep us sailing along quite nicely. We really wanted this to be our last big sailbut the doldrums have hit until who knows when. I think we may get wind on the other side of the equator.
Rosemary, Bill and Matt