Day 14 The funny thing about sailing...
is that you never really know what to expect. Early yesterday evening we were bowling along in perfect conditions eating up the miles and the lad's conversations were turning to palm fringed islands, beer and beaches.
By midnight, the squall clouds were rolling in and the air was full of rain. Throughout the night, the wind played cruel tricks with us, varying by up to 60deg, usually just as we had set the sails.
Today has bought no respite from the changeable conditions. At luchtime, we saw a window of sunshine and went for the spinnaker, only for a mass of cloud to break away from the horizon, and we rushed to get it down again before more 30kt winds and rain hit.
For the moment we have a good 20kt SE wind, but humidity is near 100% and just moving around the boat is draining. It seems we will have to fight hard for every mile to St Lucia.
The good news was that the better conditions of yesterday gave us another 180 miles (although with the wind shifts, not all in the right direction). Distance to go is now below 500 but I think the dreams of the beer and beaches had better go on hold for a bit as we concentrate on getting the boat home.
16.00 3 Dec