Amokura - Log Day 11 - Speeding along!

What a difference 24hrs makes! The wind has steadily increased since yesterday morning and Amokura is going like a train again.
The light wind parasail happily pulled us along until the early hours of this morning, then, at midnight, Liz came on watch and things started to get rather lively! It was a beautiful night, with a crescent moon hanging low in the sky ahead us like a smile, but clouds were looming behind, silhouetted against the stars, and the ocean swell was increasing.
The wind was rapidly building, and it soon became apparent we were fast becoming overpowered; the autopilot was fighting to keep us on course as we surged down the waves. So it was a case of everyone up, we need to get this sail down right now! Most of the crew were already awake and scrambled into lifejackets and harnesses; after so many days at sea, we can usually sense when the boat needs attention, almost like a crying baby. Decklight on, boys on the foredeck, girls in the cockpit, we swung into action. Altering course to take the wind out of the sail, we slackened the guy rope and sheet holding the sail in position, as the sail collapsed, the snuffing sock was pulled down to encase the billowing folds. Scrambling forward, the girls helped to bring the sail down onto the deck and into the bow locker. It sounds straightforward, but less easy with the boat lurching around and trying to throw us off into the water!
With the genoa unfurled and poled out, we were back on course and much more under control - phew! 75% of the crew gratefully retired to bed for some much needed rest. We laughed about how different conditions were from the previous night when too little wind  - that's sailing for you!
With our speed now up, averaging over 7kts in the last 24hrs, our thought turn more and more to arrival in Grenada. At current rate of progress, this could be sometime on Thursday, so maybe only 2 sleeps away! The consensus of opinion is that, rather than arriving in the early hours of the morning as into Mindelo, it would be much more civilised to arrive in daylight, ideally early evening, in time for sundowners - we can almost taste that chilled rum punch already! Clearly that might be a bit much to hope for, but we have the luxury of time to anticipate and dream, as we forge west and the ocean slips away beneath our keel.

Miles run in last 24hrs: 170nm
Average speed: 7.1kts
Distance to Grenada: 342 nm

Signing off for now...

Liz Brigstocke