Day 357, Year 5 Passage to Ile Europa, Day 3
Date: Monday, October 18, 2010
Weather: Most Sunny Day, Winds SSW 15-20 am, WSW 10-15 pm
Latitude: 20 30.718 S
Longitude: 042 01.282 E
Miles Traveled: 206 (miles made good-159)
Miles to Go: ~ 141 to Europa
In two days and few hours we have only gone 159 miles toward our destination. We can that many miles in one good day sail, so this is a slow slog to the southwest. The other miles we have traveled were spent zig-zagging around. We are no longer zig-zagging as the winds have allowed us to almost be on our direct course. After a rough night with winds up to 25 knots, we finally double-reefed all sails and went even slower. But at least I didn’t think I was going to die! And I started writing this log I was thinking that the sailing has been a bit slow and rough but at least we haven’t had to worry about squalls. Well, I no sooner had that thought until gray clouds magically appeared to the southwest. Constance is a few miles ahead of us and a they just called to say they were hit by a squall, but with only 20 knots of wind-not 35 like we had further north in the Indian Ocean. So we are watching and waiting. If the squall comes with rain that would be welcome. Last night we had wave spray going over the top of our dodger and onto the back deck spraying into the cockpit. Yuck! So a little fresh water wash would be nice. I’ll end this as it is time to batten down the hatches.
