St. Helena to Brazil, Day 5
November 27, 2016
Today, Sunday, is the beginning of our fifth day. Only a few hours has the wind been over 15 knots, usually about 10. So we have only been flying the spinnaker. These light conditions have their own frustrations. Below 6 knots of wind, we can't keep the wind in the sail and the boat moving. The sail collapses and starts to get tangled in other boat parts. One night we ripped a small hole in it on something sharp. We got the sail below and have put a temporary patch on it.The spinnaker is an unforgiving sail, needing to be all up or all down. You can only do that work with 2 people out on the deck. Three of the times we have done this have been in the middle of the night. No fun! We have already done quite a few hours of motoring. You hate to do that too early in a trip in case you run out of fuel.
Monday the wind is forecast to increase, which we are looking forward to. ( As long as it isn't too much.) Our average daily miles covered is 115 nm. If we keep up this pace, it will be a 15 day passage. Hopefully, we can speed up and make it in 2 weeks. (Dec. 8) In the meantime we are still mostly doing some long term boat chores and reading lots of books. I wonder if internet on sailboats will ever become affordable. I'm sending this blog on our satellite phone to our daughter who will post it for us.
Hang in there!
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