I have only been on watch for an hour when the wind moves to a completely different direction and I am not sure that the sails will deal with it. On top of that, there is something big and squally appearing on the radar. Feeling guilty I wake Mike up.
We reposition the sails and put two reefs in the main just to be sure then suddenly the squall is all around us, chucking down rain and bringing stronger wind. It dies down after half an hour or so but it’s at least an hour before Mike’s head hits the pillow again.
During my morning nap I am woken up by the sound of waves hitting the boat and uncomfortable motion. I stagger up the stairs, being thrown around and Mike says we are going to have a few hours of ‘going to St Martin’. This means wind and waves on the nose. Lovely. In the meantime, it’s tablet, sofa and bucket for me!
Mike goes off to bed after lunch telling me to wake him if we start heading on a course of less than 150 degrees, but that it shouldn’t happen for a few hours.
An hour later I have to wake him. We are suddenly heading south east, rather than south west so he tacks the boat over 90 degrees until we are heading west, better, although still off course but that’s where the wind is and we don’t want to motor. Unfortunately, we have now lost Chessie and as their radio cuts off most of their transmissions and we give up trying to contact them.
Mike gives up on sleep and stays up with me for the afternoon. At one point he spots a tug pulling an oil platform but they don’t appear on AIS which is strange. Gradually the uncomfortable motion calms down and by early evening I am able to cook without danger of causing myself, or anyone near me, serious injury as I stagger around the galley with boiling water and sharp knives.
Hopefully tomorrow we will be on a better course.
Our position is: 23 deg 54 min S, 51 deg 27 min E
Distance so far: 16811 nautical miles
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