150 nm to go. Greg let me sleep in and woke me up at 6:40 AM. The wind is weak at 5 knots and we are making around 4 knots. This is frustrating as it means that our ETA is tomorrow around 5-7 PM and I was hoping to get in around noon and with luck find flights home (this is going to be interesting how that works). Hopefully the winds will pick up a bit.
Sunny day, still about 20 degrees out and a few clouds. I'll make coffee closer to 9 AM.
Yves awakes after I have made the coffee at 9. We take the spinnaker down and start the motor as he needs the power for the radio. The auto pilot shuts down for some reason, so I get to pilot the ship for the next 45 minutes or so. Greg wakes up and makes fresh coffee. Yves makes pancakes after the radio is done and we do get autopilot back up and running. There is almost no wind.
I help Yves clean the 220 volt converters as they have corrosion on them. The rest of the morning is spent reading.
At 12:30, Yves turns the motor off and we raise the spinnaker. We have maybe 5 knots of wind and do about 3 knots of speed. I am dying inside the rest of the afternoon. I realize now that I am not ready for this lifestyle as I would rather use the motor and get the 5.5 knots from that - and get to port tomorrow during the day (around noon), versus doing this slow speed of the wind; and maybe getting in at midnight tomorrow. Oh well, this is sailing and that is the whole idea. I think it is my guilt from being away from Pam and the kids (this is a selfish adventure I am easily able to admit) that is fueling my stress over being another day late getting home.
Yves does everything to optimize the wind - he raises the keel (we bob more), and he uses the spinnaker beam to maximize the angle of the spinnaker. I try and use my special powers of control to will more wind into the sails - not much of an affect, but do get a gust here and there of up to 6 knots. We average 3.5 knots.
We do see a few pods of dolphins that always approach the boat and then are quickly gone. They are about 4 feet long, gray and white, and dart quickly bak and forth with the occasional dorsal fin breaking the water.
Man Overboard... Or Hat Overboard I should adjust:
The highlight of the day was during a change of the spinnaker position that saw the spinnaker sheet whip up and snatch Greg's Tilley hat off his head and send it into the water. I tried to get to the swim platform in time to get it as the boat passed, but to no avail. We called "man overboard" and threw the life saver ring and marker into the water to mark the hat's position. We rained in the spinnaker with the spinnaker sock, and dropped it to the deck by releasing the spinnaker halyard, turned on the engine, pulled in the fishing lines and grabbed the dock pole. We did this in about two minutes and got the boat turned around. We had travelled a few hundred meters and it was getting hard to see the marker, but we were able to retrieve that hat and the marker. It was a good practice and I hope we will not have to repeat it.
Greg made spaghetti with left over Prego sauce for dinner. We ate topside and had tea watching the sunset.
Off to bed as I have the midnight to 3 AM shift
99 nm to go...