Lovely sailing

17 April 2023

News

We have sailed wonderfully the past few days and made good progress. The wind continued to blow from the south-south-east and increased further and further, which increased our speeds considerably. In the end there was about 25 knots of wind, something the ‘Oosterschelde’ knows what to do with!

As I mentioned earlier, the long-term forecasts were less rosy. Around the Bay of Biscay and off the English Channel, an area of easterly winds was and still is forecasted. That is why we quickly decided to sail a little further east than in a straight line to the Channel. And since we have now come a lot closer and the forecast, as far as the east wind is concerned, has unfortunately not changed, we now just sail as much east as possible. Every mile that way, we’re bound to get in.

It is difficult to predict what will happen after those easterly winds; every day the forecasts give a completely different picture. All the more reason for us to sail those miles to the east!

The wind has decreased a lot today and has shifted (turned counter clockwise) and will drop even further. So tonight, we got to work setting more sail. Apart from a stray reef and gaff topsails, everything is in place, and we are almost close to the wind. Sometime in the morning the wind will be up and then calmly come back from the northeast later. That means that we have a lot ahead of us on the engine, so tonight we enjoy a quiet ship under an incredibly beautiful starry sky. At this moment Venus is so bright that we can see the glow of her (reflected) light shining on the water…

Everyone on board is now used to the rhythm of the ship. People turn their watches and in between they are reading a book, enjoying the dolphins, figuring out/learning the stars (images) for the evening or just enjoying the passing clouds.

One of the guests has prepared 10 questions, something to think about. Not difficult questions for professional maritime people, but most of the guests looked a bit difficult when reading these questions. I’m curious what kind of answers are given; the deadline is tomorrow at lunch.

I myself have indicated that I am easily bribed, but have not yet received any interesting offers… Who knows tomorrow. 😉