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La Contenta - Day 19: The wind is sixteen going on seventeen



Day 19: The wind is sixteen going on seventeen
 
Let’s start at the very beginning.  We are still moving.  Yesterday when our winds were very light Ewen inspirationally and bravely said that when the wind was a consistent 15 knots he would sing us a song from the Sound of Music.  Today we have eagerly watched the wind speed creep slowly up and around tea time the elusive threshold of 15 knots was reached and exceeded.  As the wind speed hovered between 16 and 17 knots he broke into song;
 
‘The wind is sixteen going on seventeen
Quite a steady breeze
Then it drops by over ten knots
This wind is a great big tease’
 
We did laugh! This song will never quite be the same again and will always transport us back to a sunny afternoon in the Atlantic ocean.
 
We have had a steady sail today.  Dave has done various calculations and we need to average 5 knots per hour to reach Saint Lucia before the ARC finish line closes.  So far we are on track. We have sailed all day with our cruising chute and changed our sail plan at sundown when the winds increased.  We are now sailing with our genoa which we have poled out with our spinnaker pole. We have balanced this with the stay sail to minimise the rolling.  We have no main sail up to protect the rigging and we are flying along.
 
We were joined, albeit briefly, by a pod of dolphins late afternoon.  We think they may have called by to check our Ewens singing.  There has been no guitar or saxophone today – the boat has just been a bit too rolly.  Everything is rattling in the cupboards, the boat is creaking and food is flying off the table as we lollop continuously from side to side. 
 
This relentless movement is hard on the boat and on its equipment.  Along with the water maker, lee cloths and Otto Van Helm I would like to pay tribute to our generator.  It is on for a couple of times a day and keeps our batteries topped up. It has powered our fridges, freezer, lights, winches, water maker etc and not failed us once.  So far we have used half of one tank of diesel which we feel is pretty impressive.  So thank you to our generator.  These are a few of our favourite things.



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