Better day today… Only got water down the companionway once ( ! ) – from a freak wave – otherwise pretty dry. Day 2 we made 165 miles – a little over our normal 155 but not as good as day one! (Did you catch the mathmatical error yesterday? Our average speed was 7.92 not 7.2!) Our 2 day average is 7.4 – not bad!! Currently we have 22knots of wind out of the east and the seas are down to about 8-19′ – they were 12-15′ and we’re sailing with 2 reefs in the main and the small jib, making about 7.5 knots. Unfortunately headed towards Bermuda not the Azores… Actually, our route will take us close to Bermuda before we hang a right with the wind and head for the Azores…
Yesterday while putting in the third reef, I got bounced by the boom and took a boom stand-off (one of those big pointy ladder-like things that help store the folded sail on the boom) in the chest – not pleasant. Today while winching in a sail, I could hardly do it for the pain in my chest – I must’ve bruised a rib! I’m hoping I don’t have to do many sail changes too soon!
We get pesterred by squalls from time to time – mostly at night. They show up on radar and we see if we can dodge around them. Yesterday, one came on in stealth mode and we had gusts of 45 knots – enough to concentrate the mind! So far today they’ve not been packing such a punch – but I see now another one just popped up on radar!!! 🙁
We’ve got another day (Sunday) of this brisk weather, and then it sould lighten up for a few – we’re both really looking forward to that! Our weather router, Chris Parker, who we’re in touch with on the SSB says we might get lucky with our timing… There’s a windless ridge (sounds wonderful right now!) about 3 days ahead of us that we’ll have to motor through – except he’s saying a cold front is going to compress it and allow Toodle-oo! – if we get the timing right – to arrive just as the ridge is narrowest, allowing us to continue sailing… I was kinda looking forward to a bit of easy motoring!
Anyway, all well aboard Toodle-oo! – settling into the rythm of the passage, just hoping for some less dramatic sailing!!
Now, where’s that squall gotten to???
Cheers!