15:42:00 UTC Tuesday Dec. 1, 2015Position: 14.258806N, 60.325472W
ALMOST THERE
Do you remember the scene in Shrek 2 where the donkey, sitting in the back of the carriage, pops up his head repeatedly, asking “are we there yet?"
Well, that is how we feel. 35nm to go and with little wind, time drags on…..
It started yesterday afternoon, when the winds dropped below 20kt and we felt safe enough to hoist the Gennaker. A beautiful ride ensued until we hit the squall line!
Directly in front of us, blocking the way and moving ever so slowly out of the way. We took down all sails and waited for it to pass. The radar was a huge help in that situation. After about half an hour it became clear that we would be stuck for a long time. Sailing on was out of the question, winds were down to 0-5kt and coming from all directions at the same time. So we started the engine and motored for 1:37hrs until we were past it and winds returned back to normal. Light was fading at that time and with some minor squalls still around we played it safe and continued with Genoa only throughout the night. Back to Gennaker at the first light and since then we have been moving slowly on with winds around 10-12kt and a speed of 5-5.5kt. That is too slow to get us to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia before dark, so unless the winds pick up soon we might have to do the last few hours on engine to get there in useful light. In any case we will be on dry land tonight!
Not quite there yet...
Klaus