can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Free Spirit - 29 Nov Richie's log



Friday 29 Nov (Richie's log)
Those trade winds are proving to be quite illusive. The problem is that a big low pressure system has plonked itself to the south west of us, and it isn't budging. Does that remind you of a typical English summer forecast? The weather is pretty similar here too, you wouldn't think we're in the tropics!
Last night we were duped into thinking we might have found the trade winds though. We were creaming along and our boat was loving it! The wind had 'backed' (the direction the wind was coming from had changed in an anticlockwise direction) from a southerly to a south-easterly, allowing us to sail with the wind behind us westwards as we are expecting to once we do catch the trade winds.The boat was beatifully balanced and, sorry for using the same term again, but I can think of no better way to describe it, we were creaming along at a steady 9 knots - such a great feeling! The phospheresence was astonishing too! Like brilliant, bright sparks in the dark night, lighting up the water and spreading out from the hull to several metres out on either side.
Today is a different story,unfortunately. Looking at the weather report, that low is still firmly in place, and the wind is coming from the south again which is where we need to go! We head in a south-westerly direction. Free Spirit has a more jerky movement, we are constantly having to adjust our sails to the changing force and direction of the wind and it is grey and raining, but I still love it! 
...fish! A mahi mahi, about 15lbs! Alex has been promising us every day that 'today' is a good day for fishing and we shall have fish for our dinner 'tonight'. Well finally he was right! And the fish had perfect timing because it came when there was a lull in the wind and we had no sail out- nice fish! Who's hungry?  


Previous | Next