Coming to the end of day 16 at sea. The last few nights have been squally with variable winds. It is now 07.10 (10.10 in the UK), the sun is shining and we are sailing west towards St Lucia in winds of 22-28 knots (force 6) at a speed of 6 to 7 knots which makes for a comfortable sail. Earlier the wind got up to 30-35 knots and the speed increased to 8 to 9 knots which is a bit too lively for us old people!
The night before last several boats, including Karma Daze, got into quite a stormy area, with winds over 30 knots, and for one boat winds up to 49 knots. It means that no-one can really sleep as there are frequent sail changes, or sleeping in your life jacket so you’re ready to help quickly.
The SSB daily radio net is where to relate these experiences, and as usual in sailing, it’s the scary bits that are reported not the nice sunny day, full sails straight forward sailing. The other main topic of conversation on the net is the number of fish people have caught (none in our case) and advise on what lures etc to use.
The first boat in our SSB net group has arrived in St Lucia, an Australian boat called Charm Offensive. We are all pleased and a bit envious as the weather forecast for the seas nearer to St Lucia are not good. There is a low developing to the north of us and the effect is to decrease the winds to the south of it – just where we are all heading. Fortunately the freezer is well stocked in case we have to spend more days than we had hoped at sea.