We continue to sail through the night but we are aware it can’t last much longer if we are to believe the weather reports.
I have seen no other boats for 24 hours now and it’s difficult to believe that we left port along with 17 others just three days ago. When we look at the map we have plotted with everyone’s progress, we can see that the fleet is spread over a 60-mile band of ocean, with us being the furthest out to sea as we all head north west.
Mike puts the rod out and while he is down sleeping, the line runs out. I put the brakes on and start to reel it in, hoping to bring it a little closer to the boat before having to wake Mike. In the distance I can see the fish flinging itself out of the water – 4 or 5 times he leaps, twisting and turning in complete circles in an attempt to get off the hook before I realise that he has got off as his circles and leaps are getting further away. As I pull the slack line in, I can see that we are once again minus a lure. Bugger.
The bananas have been ignored sufficiently for them to be over ripe enough for banana bread so in the afternoon I make one.
I suddenly notice that we are heading due west rather than north west but typically are still making good speed with not that much wind. I let it go for a while, hoping that some passing squall on the horizon is screwing with the wind, but after half an hour I go and wake Mike. After fiddling with the sails, there is nothing he can do and he says to just leave it and hope that the wind changes, so for the next four hours we head off course. In the early evening, we head back the other way, now going north east to correct our earlier misdirection – then the wind dies and we have to motor sail anyway – putting the genoa away once more.
The day, which has been overcast all the time, gets decidedly greyer and night falls early. We hear on the net that most people are motor sailing, but most motor harder than us as they carry more fuel so we will start to get left behind quite quickly. It’s amazing. We are nearing the equator and the weather is almost the same as when we crossed from north to south around the same time last year. We should cross it some time tomorrow and I will be one step closer to home, back in the northern hemisphere.
Our evening meal is decadent – banana bread – but a good one and simply, totally delicious.
By the time I go to bed, the boat is pitching noisily into the waves. Oh goody, a roller coaster ride to sleepy poos.
Our position is: 01 deg 04 min S, 38 deg 23 min W
Distance so far: 22919 nautical miles
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