The last two days gave us good weather but unstable winds. Yesterday was, however, a great day for the cruising shute. The balloon sail stood proudly the whole day and night. We took it down this morning as we changed course, this time directly west to St Lucia - 270 degrees! Funny, we did exactly what the old story says: “Sail south till the butter melts, then make a right turn and you end up in Caribbean.” Because of squalls and unsettled weather north of us, we decided when we took off from Las Palmas to set Sails south for Cap Verde. As we saw the islands on 18 degrees N we turned west.
It gives a fantastic feeling to sail into warmer weather. Every day we experience the temperature climbing. And we do know we will reach a climax arriving to St Lucia, probably in 11 days.
We have had a kind of fishing tour on the boat. Small flying fish fly on board. We know Thor Heyerdahl eat them on his expeditions. We have decided not to. There is enough food on board. But it is fun to look at the flying fish speed up in herds on top of the waves. We have seen large families of dolphins also in these last days. Now we look for the whales. Tore and Christian mean they saw one next to the boat. Unfortunately it was dark. Åge and Tom have seen something spout water, but this was from a distance.
Lars Christian is always the Viking! He started with buckets of water on the transom. He was alone until we others understood that the water keeps 31 degrees C. He is not alone any more. Astahaya keeps 7-8 knots so we cannot swim in the sea. This pool is also very deep!
The time is now 17:30. Jon prepares dinner (filled peppers with beef and rice), Åge reads his Jan Guillou book, Christian takes a nap and Lars Christian and Tore keep watch. We believe to have found the trade winds and have got the real feeling of crossing a sea!
The mood is fine.
From all of us to all of you
On behalf
Tom AH