11 March 2011
Our first day broke us in gently as we sailed close hauled in a gentle force three to four. Just as we finished supper quite a little storm broke. We had been watching as the skies grew leaden and overcast but the speed at which it arrived took us by surprise. From what we could hear on the VHF it had caught many of the rest of the fleet unawares. The wind went from 10knots to 36knots with driving rain. It lasted a full hour. Thank goodness we are able to reef this boat down in seconds. The rest of the night was punctuated with angry squalls but the strongest gusts now only reaching 26knots. The forecast had been for scattered showers and winds 6 to 16knots so clearly Aeolus and Zeus had other ideas. However it anything good was to come of it, it was that the rigging and the boat got a thorough wash and we were moving along at a rate of knots. We covered 155nm in our first daily run but still no favourable current. Our forecaster is on a promise.
The pilot book confirms this. The Guyana Current is the northern arm of the South Equatorial Current and deflected along the northern coast of Brazil. However it is largely north of the Equator so we have some way to go being its presence is felt.
At dawn from nowhere appeared two yellow nosed albatross and circled the boat in unison. I was surprised at their presence. I did not think they came this far north. I consulted my bird book. Sure enough there have been reported sightings off the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard of North America. I made three attempts to take a photo and was foiled each time. They are just too quick for the camera.
The squalls continued with regular wind shifts and constant reefing keeping us busy until the late afternoon. The books will have to remain in the ship's library for the time being. As it gets light around 5am and dark at 6pm we have moved the mealtimes forward accordingly. Our progress north has been better than we thought. After only a day and a half we are already around the northeast corner of Brazil and are now sailing in a north westerly direction. With over 200nm on the log have now just 1900nm to go!
Susan Mackay