Wind, no wind, wind

24 January 2025

Wind, no wind, wind

We are now 21 days at sea, and all is going well. The thing with a long ocean crossing, especially one that involves the Cape Horn rounding, is that you experience all sorts of weather conditions. We’re no longer able to use the engine, so we have no choice but to take whatever weather comes our way. And that brings us to what we’ve been dealing with over the past 36 hours.

After crossing the 50-degrees mark and making good progress, the wind suddenly dropped dramatically, leaving us with only 4-5 knots. Our speed slowed as well, and last night we were only making about half a knot—around 1 km/h. It’s not a huge issue, as we still have four weeks to reach Stanley, Falklands, but life on board is becoming increasingly challenging.

Normally, we would have the support of the sails to dampen the rolling motion of the ship, or we could start the engine to get the boat into a more favorable angle to the waves. But since neither option is available, we’ve had to adapt to the conditions. This means constant rolling from port to starboard, with the ship heeling 30 degrees on both sides. It certainly makes life uncomfortable.

Walking on deck has become tricky, standing upright feels almost impossible, and even simple tasks like going to the toilet or taking a shower are becoming increasingly difficult, if not entirely unfeasible. But the hardest part? Sleeping. You try to hold on, even placing a life-jacket under your mattress to help steady yourself, but still, you move from side to side.

Thankfully, we’ve finally found some wind again, and the boat is now heeling at a comfortable angle. Life at sea has returned to something closer to normal. We’re making 7 knots now, moving in the right direction, and coffee is being served on deck. The planking has started again, and the rhythm of life at sea is slowly but surely returning.

All in all, life is good at sea.