Day 120, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 17-Slowing Down.Intentionally
Date: Monday, February 21, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Beautiful Blue Sky and Sunshine; ENE 15-20
Air Temperature: 82 degrees F
Latitude: 04 33 093 N
Longitude: 034 30.727 W
Miles Traveled: 2209
Miles to Go: 1695
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)

Slowing down a sailboat intentionally is a little like waking a sleeping baby. It’s not something you usually do. But this morning at 8:30 we logged over 160 miles in the last 24 hours. Around 8 pm last evening the winds went from 10 to 15 knots to 15 to 20. With the full main and headsail out, we were screaming along at 7 to 7.5 knots all night long. It was great, but when morning came and dark clouds were gathering above, the Captain decided we should put a double-reef in the main to slow ourselves down a bit in order to be able to handle things more easily in case of a squall. We did this reluctantly, and although it slowed us down to an average of 6 knots, it is a smoother ride. The dark clouds went away and it turned out to be a beautiful day, but we decided to keep the reef in until tomorrow morning. If at that time, things look settled, we might shake it out and go full tilt again. We feel bad when we talk to Larry and Mary Anne on Traversay in the mornings. They started out two days behind us but are now are at least six days behind due to a lack of wind. They can make only 100 miles per day. It makes the decision to leave St. Helena before the arrival of the RMS St. Helena seem smarter than it seemed at the time. If we had waited, as did Traversay, we would be back there with no wind as well. That two-day head start has made all the difference in the world. The group of boats behind Traversay are also struggling with lighter winds. So Windbird is out in front and enjoying the ride.

It was a bit of a lazy day. We did a laundry and we read. It’s hard to get a lot done with all the “required” nap times. Although we each get about six hours of sleep in two shifts during the night, I go back down for a two hour morning nap and as soon as I get up, Mark goes down for an hour. We are then both up from about 1:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon and then Mark goes down for another hour while I write the log and get emails ready to send. Then its time to send and receive emails which actually takes about an hour these days, although connections seem to be getting faster. We are using Halifax right now and it is doing a good job for us. While Mark is sending the emails, I get dinner together, we eat, and then we start the rotation all over again. I seem to be much more productive during the night watches. I’m still doing Caribbean research and I have completed editing all photos from Years 3, 4, 5, and 6. I have about eight folders from Year 2 to complete tonight and then I start on Year 1. It is the toughest one as our computer with the photos on it crashed on the way to the Galapagos leaving a gap in what got done and we were not using Picasa that year, so I have a harder time checking to see what was put on the website and what wasn’t. I also have all the photos from our last two trips back to the US to tackle. But hopefully in three more good nights, I’ll have the photo job completely finished and I’ll really feel like I’ve accomplished something. Then I can start putting together “picture shows” from Years 3, 4, 5, and 6. We did this for Years 1 and 2 and made presentations while we were home after each of those cruising seasons, so we’d like to have similar presentations for the other years. I just wish I had the photos from the other thirty some years we have been together as well organized. Maybe we’ll have to sail around the world again so I can get that job done!