Endeavour III - Endeavour III - Day 18

We’re sailing along slowly but very pleasantly. The sea is calm and the sky blue. Birds flit by occasionally taking a look at us and a pod of dolphins came to play with the boat earlier. A short distance ahead lies the Caribbean. Peace. Tranquility. Life is good?

Well, frankly, no. After bowling across the Atlantic very merrily for two weeks at an average speed of eight knots, we hit a large area of blue on the weather map (blue is bad for sailing, it indicates an area of no wind). Our progress came to a juddering halt. All the more frustrating as after sailing over 2000nm, it seems that St Lucia is just over the horizon. We see other boats lose patience and put the motor on. We would do the same, but we don’t have enough fuel to get to Rodney Bay.

So, we bob around waiting for the wind to pick up. Endlessly stategising (should we head for Barbados?), downloading updated weather forecasts, and re-calculating distances and fuel reserves.

A problem is that we don’t really know how much fuel we have. The fuel guage jumps arould like a puppet on speed. This has prompted much discussion on board as to how to build a better fuel guage. It passes the time as we roll around.

Other diversions include planning future passages and lessons learnt on this one. Of the latter, the number one lesson is bring more fuel.

Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. But no baked beans. They are finished. After two weeks, much is finished. But the finish we all really want is the finishing line.

Steve - Wednesday 7th December
Not sure the exact distance covered in the last 24 hours… but it wasn’t enough!