Voyageur - Day 3 - 7th May

A calm sea

Feeling so much better today having had six hours good quality sleep last night. For the second day in a row our ocean is a glassy calm. All day we searched in vain for those tell tale signs of wind upon sea and in the skies. I swear is it a conspiracy between Neptune and Aeolus. They teased us relentlessly and remorselessly. Throughout the day we could see bands of wind stretching across ahead of us but every time Voyageur arrived her bow plunging through the ruffled surface the wind registered nothing more than a measly five knots. Today’s lowest wind speed record reached 0.7! The barometric pressure remains as steady as if it has got stuck. The good news is that we picked up a nice favourable current of 0.4 of a knot so it is good to see our boat speed nudging above seven knots as we continue to motorsail. Just before we sat down for supper the needle swung round to the northwest and increased, 6, 7, 8 knots of wind. Although supper was ready we leapt to the sheets as a man and in minutes were sailing close hauled on a north, north easterly course, the engine silenced at long long last. We had been motoring for 36hours nonstop. It lasted only an hour but at least it was an hour of pure pleasure just to hear rippling water lapping gently on the hull. It was the sweetest sound. We took our meals in civilised fashion sitting at the cockpit table instead of the usual balancing act on our knees. Today’s offering was cauliflower with a crispy bacon and onion cheese sauce, supper, garlic prawns and salad followed by dessert, ice cream and blueberries. All that was missing was a glass of fine wine! The real highlight of the day however had to be David’s first ever sighting of the green flash.

Susan Mackay