Endeavour III - Endeavour III - Day 15

The day started bright and early at 03:00 for my watch, and the sky did not disappoint! A waxing moon illuminated a silver road across the ocean’s surface that Endeavour III faithfully chugged along. I say chugged because sadly the motor had to be on all night due to a distinct lack of wind. Perhaps the sea took pity on us, as the night brought with it a little present in the form of a small Dorado caught by Dave on a rod that was accidentally left out from the day before. That’s Tash’s dinner for tonight sorted!

The motoring lasted into the morning as we plodded along at 5 knots whilst chomping on Hugh’s homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls. As well as having little to no wind in the sails, the lack of a breeze has made Endeavour III into a floating sauna…I honestly did not imagine it would ever be this HOT in the middle of the Ocean. And it looks like this will only continue as the weather forecast predicts even less wind in the coming days.

How many middle-aged men does it take to figure out how far our fuel will take us? Turns out it’s four, and involves a lot of googling, equations on paper, running of fingers down the log book, checking of fuel graphs in the manual, scratching of heads and scraggly beards, and a couple of 0.0 beers. The conclusion, we probably won’t have enough to motor all the way to St Lucia. After the news that we would have to get a visa in order to re-fuel in Barbados, the crew sat contemplating a few days of bobbing aimlessly at sea, eating Kevin’s ‘curried tinned tomatoes and rice’ (no thank you) whilst we wait for the wind to pick up again on Thursday.

But wait, what is that I feel!? An early afternoon breeze!? Out come the Code Zero and our main sail, and we were off on our unexpected winds cruising at a comfortable 6-7 knots well into the evening.

The sunset was again just amazing. Tash and I took a walk to the bow to properly view the sky and I think we both suddenly appreciated how lucky we are. What an insane adventure, and I’m so fortunate to share it with such a great friend and an awesome crew.

Imara - Sunday 4th December
Only made about 125 miles in the last 24 hours