Are we in time for the Eastern wind?

30 May 2013

An hour after my last report, the wind stopped blowing. This usually results in a very confused sea, with sails that hang around and bang back and forth on the crossing waves. We decided that it was time to take down the gaff sails to avoid more wear. The next 24 hours we were busy with setting sails, taking down sails, sailing close reach, broad reach and not much speed (95 miles in 24 hours against 160 miles in 24 hours a day before).
Yesterday it was beautiful, a clear blue sky, 5 Bft wind from the back so we set all the sails including the course and we rolled on the waves with about 5 knots speed. We caught a beautiful Mahi-Mahi and we let one escape. The ‘Europa’ is at about 10 miles behind us.
The forecast predicts an eastern wind of 6-7 Bft in two days. We need to get more east as soon as possible so we turned on the engine to help us a bit. We are probably close to a busy trade route, we see a lot of traffic on the AIS. Once in a while we see a big bow pass by on the horizon. We did not spot any whales and dolphins but sea birds do pass by from time to time. We now have contact with the ‘Tecla’ and ‘Europa’. Last night they also decided to turn on the engine to get more east. I will talk to them later again.