Another Shot
We will soon be making our closest pass to the Brazilian mainland, and piracy is at the top of everyone’s mind.
Just kidding!
Brazil doesn’t really have a piracy problem, and in any case the pirates would have to have a boat the size of a Coast Guard cutter for them to have any chance of catching us.
At some point around St. Helena, the crew had a brief conversation about how we’d like another shot at the conditions we saw the first 36 hours out of Cape Town. Well, our wish has been granted. Last night at about 3 a.m. the wind filled into about 20 knots, blowing just aft of the starboard beam. Wes, Dan and Brianna dropped the Code Zero headsail, put a reef in the main and unfurled the genoa. We are seeing boat speeds up to 14 knots, in 3-4 meter seas. No little inflatable runabout is going to touch us in these conditions.
So much has happened over the last few days, and I haven’t even completed posting about Fernando de Noronha. However, it is a difficult set of conditions to be looking at a computer screen. Everything is kind of at survival level now. In 24 hours we hope to see the wind move more behind us, which should make life onboard a little easier.
A seabird landed on my head last night and sat there for about 10 minutes before my watch ended at midnight. We’ve taken it as a good sign.
