We have no wind. Ok no wind is a bit of an exaggeration but I consider 6 knots of wind resulting in a maximum boat speed of 3.5 knots the equivalent to having no wind. We have been bobbing along and sometimes it feels like our only forward momentum in the gentle nudge from the following sea. Light winds mean slamming sails which, for a long enough period of time, is enough to send most people stir crazy. We’ve tried sailing at a wind angle of 140 degrees and putting the Spinnaker up (or ‘tissue’ as my friend Wendy calls it). We picked up speed which was great…but the angle we were sailing meant we were almost going backwards…not great. The tissue came down and we have reverted back to the typical goose wing set up.
HOWEVER…we will not let our horribly slow progress drag us into a state of mild depression. The winds are due to pick up tomorrow (Friday) and ‘Halfway day’ is almost upon us. This means brownies, custard, ambrosia rice pudding, Lindt chocolate, twiglets and BEER. Ahhh my god I’m salivating just thinking about it.
Also WHAT is all this seaweed? It’s everywhere! Where does it come from? It’s like a thick layer of grass floating on the surface of the water. Anyway as well as sailing backwards we’ve spent parts of the last 48 hours actually in reverse trying to clear our prop of the stuff. It comes out from under the boat in huge clumps. It makes fishing both exhilarating (when the line runs off the reel every 5 minutes) and irritating (spending the next 10 minutes untangling the hook from said weed).
We haven’t seen a bird or flying fish for a while. We haven’t seen dolphins since the day we left Cape Verdes. Someone once said to me sailing in the middle of the Atlantic is like being in a desert because you don’t see any wildlife for miles. Well I can confirm, no wildlife. Just seaweed.
In a bid to cheer ourselves up and block out the sound of slamming sails (so help me God), we listened to one of Billy Connellys shows. The one he did years ago with an audience of celebrities. The one where he talks about incontinence pants... If you don’t know it…listen to it. Now. Whoooooooosh!
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