It has been a while..

25 April 2018

After the festivities of the tricentennial celebrations in New Orleans it was time to sail down the Mississippi again to our last stop in the USA, St Petersburg. 
With a group of 22 guests we left on Monday morning to sail the 90 NM down the river. The river has a strong current this time of the year so sailing up was a long process. Sailing down however went very fast. With an average of 10 knots we speeded down the river and at dinner time it was time to say goodbye to the pilot. Right after that we set the sails and enjoyed the peace and quiet. No masses of people, no steam-whistles, no phone and -probably the nicest- no engine.
The light wind came from the west, but not for long! The wind was so light and variable that it kept us quite busy. The wind shifted, and we adjusted the sails as far as we could until we had to jibe. Then the wind went away completely, but we refused to turn on the engine. So, we spend the morning floating with 0,5 to 1 knots. The wind slowly came back and shifted so we jibed again. Of course, the wind shifted back, so we jibed again, and again, and again. But it looks now that the wind is pretty stable and coming from the north-northwest, so we are sailing under full sail in the right direction. Not that fast, but we are on schedule, so we sail further enjoying the weather, the dolphins, the stars and each other’s stories.