Hardly any wind

10 August 2017

Update by Maggi and Robynne:
“Over the last few days we have had hardly any wind. As of this morning we were officially number one in the tall ships’ floating race, being overtaken even by the friendly Shearwater birds bobbing along beside us. 
The majority of the past two days have been foggy with an almost ghost-like eeriness. Yesterday we had a brief ray of sunshine so we took the opportunity to wipe down the worst of the salt from the ships’ superstructure. There was a moment of hilarity when Terry, who was steering at the time, dropped his phone down behind the ships’ wheel, where it lay tantalizingly out of reach playing Irish folk tunes at full volume behind the wooden surround. This led to many comments about the lifespan of the iPhones battery and how long we would be subjected to Terry’s taste in music. Eventually the wooden surround was dismantled and the singing wheel was finally silenced. 
Later we had a lesson on the sun, sextant and ocean navigation from Jan-Willem, but unfortunately it was too foggy to see the horizon so we have not yet had an opportunity to put it into practice. 
We tried raising the course to take more advantage of what little wind we had, but this did nothing to increase our speed. Lowering the course in the middle of the night was interesting and our initial attempts at stowing it resulted in a partly folded shamble of sail. Finally, after a second attempt we ended up with a nicely flaked and folded sail all wrapped up like a Christmas present ready for placing under the tree. This at least made the night watch go faster and helped to keep us warm. 
The sunsets over the last few days have been spectacular, with deep reds and oranges stretching across the skies, with the full moon opposite in a beautiful golden glow against the dark blue sky. 
Today we celebrated Warren’s birthday with singing and a large cake sporting a blueberry sheep (Warren is from New Zealand) which was absolutely delicious. 
As I type this it is raining on deck. I can hear the sails flapping and some of the rigging tapping against the mast and stays. The ships navigation software has our current estimated arrival date as the 23rd September… We hope for more wind soon.”