Into the Northeast Trades

Finally, the Northeast trades arrived, or we worked our way far enough north to get into them. They have been more North Northeast than Northeast, and we’ve been sailing higher I think than the others before, relative to the wind, but only because we have less of it, around 15 knots.

With 2 reefs and the staysail, we were at about 9.5 knots, so this morning went back to the solent, and got to about 10.5-11 knots. But we are now at the maximum for the solent and will have to go back to the staysail shortly. I know that the others before had 20-30 knots of wind, and maybe that’s how they were getting their high speeds. Of course that’s what I’ve never been quite able to figure out, how they are going so fast even when conditions are the same as ours. They are really fast sailors!

I’ve had nice communications with Conrad and Alan. Conrad is facing a weather oddity of a low coming to the west out of Spain which might push him to the coast and then to go north. Alan and I had a very personal exchange about emotions in these stressful situations. I really like my communications with Alan, although we differ greatly in age, we are facing the same challenges, and its nice to communicate with him about them. He’s a great sailor, a great guy, and a friend.

Position
4° 40’N x 33° 02’W
Course
338° True
Speed
12 knots
Log
25,412nm
True Wind Speed
18 knots
True Wind Direction
039°
Sails (click for diagram)
Mainsail (2 reefs), Solent