The rougher stuff

A day or so before we crossed the equator, the South Easterly winds we've
had for days turned more East and settled on East North East. t first we
were flying our gennekar, and at 1am our time when the wind started to
shift the angle of wind become a bit tight to fly the gennekar. She is
good for up to 120 degrees, but at 90 degrees to us, or on the beam as the
nautical term goes, not so effective when the sea is building. Fortunately
my crew is always ready for whatever the situation requires. I woke them,
switched on the deck light, and soon we had the gennekar snuffed and
folded away. We tied sacrificial reeflines to the mainsail on second reef,
and unfurling the genoa or headsail, we were doing quite fine. A fairly
extensive operation which took us about 30 minutes, and at last we were
really sailing again, the two sails creating forwad momentum for us. With
the gennekar the wind pushes us, with the head and mainsail, we are
actually getting sucked in. An effect similar to squeezing a wet bar of
soap between your hands and it pops out. At 6am the wind was shifting SE
again, and down went the sails and up went the gennekar. At about 11am he
wind decided to settle now for ENE and once again we had to bring the
gennekar down again and raise the main sail which is generally good for up
to 20kts of wind. Undo the second reef sacrificial reef lines, tie them on
the first reef and hoisted the mainsail. I was watching a bank of dark
clouds in the distance while we hoisted the main. We face directly into the
wind when we raise the mainsail, and once she was up and I turned the boat
to set the sail, the wind suddenly started rising to 23kts. Turned back
into the wind, dropped the main to second reef, and tied the sacrificial
reef lines down again. Tightened the luff of the sail, went on a
broadreach, unfurled the genoa, tied a sling on, and then aimed the boat
for our next waypoint again, aiming for a point just below St.Lucia on a
beam reach. I a nutshell, we were working harder than usual to keep up our
speed, and stay within an acceptable safety margin.

At 2pm our time, or AM 11:00 UTC, we crossed the equator, and each one of
us had a few little offerings for Neptune. At sunset the night before I
spotted dolphins jumping across our bow and we had an amazing time with
them, as we always do. I did not mention it to the crew, but an old saying
is that when dolphins come to play, trouble is on its way. Anyways, closing
in on the equator, Thibault was keen to be dragged across behind the boat,
and was ready and waiting. I looked at our wind angles and boat speed, and
on a broad reach our speed was slow enough to be dragged across. We thus
sailed on a close reach up to the line, and just before the equator, I gave
Thibault the thumbs after turning to a broad reach, running exactly
parallel to the this fictitious line that seperates the northern from the
the southern hemisphere. His Gopro was set, and once he was in and being
dragged, I slowly eased across the line. With a great woohah, jubilation,
and blowing the foghorn, we announced our arrival in the northern
hemisphere. We have all crossed the equator before, so there was no ritual
for a first crossing, just saying thanks and being happy for once again
having made it thus far.

The sea continued to get bigger and bigger, and ominous looking clouds were
moving in from the east. Soon the wind was peaking at just over 30kts,
easing off to 25kts at times. We furled or genoa in deep, set our sails and
braced ourselves for a tough one as the sun was setting. And it certainly
was fairly rough. Thibault got a good splash or two from waves breaking on
the side of the boat and I also got a little splash on my watch after
Thibault. I had my foul weather gear on as I saw what happened to Thibault
and only got a little wet. Quite warm out here, and T in his T-shirt and
shorts got properly wet. We also had a bird landing on deck and he remained
with us for the remainder of the night, seeking some shelter from the
strong weather. At least a dozen flying fish landed on deck, some of whom
we could safe and threw back in the ocean. Some of them you don't see and
hurl the stiff bodies the next morning. Thibault found one in the saloon
and thought he was dead. Took some papertowel to pick he fish up and toss
him overboard. Great was his surprise and shock when the fish wriggled
still very much alive, and he managed to safe that one. Quite a sigt seeing
the flying fishing being disturbed by the yacht and flyng up into the air.
The strong wind had them hovering quite high and now ways they could get
going on a flight. Just up, hovering, and drop straight down again. In the
gloom of our navlights quite an eerie sight, but magic as well.

So yes, quite a rough night for all of us, being pushed off our course for
a while. We are a day or so away from the Amazon river. We will cross the
mouth between 150 - 200 nm offshore.We were being pushed closer to land,
but also know that once the weather settles a bit we can work our way back
ot again. This morning the skies are blue, the waves not so aggressive, the
wind also more at ease. Which means we can sail at a sharper angle and give
out a little more head sail and make great speed towards St.Lucia again.
We're going to fast to fish, and the boat is a bit difficult to stand and
do poi as we are riding up and down the swell coming at us from right
angles. Not much else to say other than all is well with us. A bit rough
still but we are getting the hang of it.

Wishing you all the best till next time.

Paul