We’ve been struggling to keep moving in very light wind for the past 24 hours. Last night we even kept the spinnaker up past dark, which we don’t normally do when there’s only one person awake to manage it. Around 11 pm however even it was hanging limp and threatening to wrap itself inappropriately around rigging so I woke Michael up to help take it down. We drifted around for an hour or two just bobbing in the the swells. Thankfully northerly wind picked up to about 5 knots during Matt’s midnight-4 watch and we were able to make some westerly progress with the main and genoa, if only at a knot or two boatspeed.
After a few hours of being becalmed this morning a few knots of wind have piped up from the NE and we’ve been able to sail at 3-4 knots all afternoon with the spinnaker. The upside to all this light air is that the boat is hardly rocking at all. Sometimes we even forget we are underway, for a moment, and life carries on below like we’re in a calm, lazy anchorage somewhere: reading books, playing UNO, taking naps.
I’ve tucked away little treats for Leah and Holly to celebrate our major milestones. We agreed that every 500 miles would be a good reason to celebrate so yesterday the girls each got a chocolate egg with a small toy inside. Amazingly, we are 1/5th of the way there!
Total miles at noon: 556
Miles sailed since yesterday: 72
Fish caught: 1
Fish caught large enough to eat: 0
Overripe avocados tossed: 3
Booby birds chased off the top of mizzen mast by hoisting a boat pole up: 1
I’ve really been enjoying the daily updates, Sara! Glad you’re all doing well.