The trade winds stopped trading yesterday afternoon and we have been slowly but steadily working our way through (hopefully) the last patch of light and variable winds before we can get on the westbound train to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. The breeze has mostly been in single digits for the past 24 hours, slowly clocking from the south through to the north, through our course line. We’ve been able to sail all but 20 minutes of it, but we’re tired of playing cat and mouse with the breeze and hoping something strong and steady will fill in from the northeast pretty soon. We ran out of beer at happy hour yesterday so the situation is getting dire. The boy’s beards are getting longer, itchier grayer.
Although we’ve spent the past 24 hours on a tight reach, the sea state has been settled, and it has been very pleasant sailing.
After a stunning crimson red sunset, Merima served up the last mahi-mahi we caught for dinner in a tasty turmeric sauce, and served it with sides of dahl and a radicchio salad. The accompaniment for dinner was a dry Spanish white wine.
The MooCrew all enjoyed their night watches for a change, thanks to the absence of any squalls, calm conditions and a beautiful, clear starlit night. Perhaps each of us wants to be on deck to call the arrival of the trades when we can once again set the spinnaker.
Charles and Graham continue to potter about, making minor repairs as little items come up so we’re pretty ship shape thanks to their efforts.
Today Merima declared that it was the day to change bed sheets. None of the boys could agree upon who was going to change with who, so each was issued a clean set to put on their berths.
ARC Rally Control sent an email yesterday rescheduling some of the events in St. Lucia due to the unusually slow sailing conditions this year. The big Welcome Party scheduled for Wednesday 8 December has been renamed the Early Arrivals Party. Yikes! 17 days is an “early arrival.” We have a shot at making that gig so will be sailing hard to get there in time.
We logged 132 nautical miles in the 24 hours from noon yesterday to noon today, and our position at noon today was 13° 45′ north by 40° 32′ west.
Cheers, George, Merima, Charles, Graham and Kurt