13th November 2013

We had a good days run yesterday of 129nm. The wind was fresh from astern and we were making good speed. The next day’s run won’t be as far though. We’ve had light NE’lys all day and are only making 1-2kts.

If the water was flat we would be going along not too bad but the motion here keeps knocking the wind out of the sails and slowing us up. I had the full main set and the genoa poled out on the opposite side, goose winged. But the main was backing and filling continually and slapping and rattling so I have dropped it and we are sailing with a poled out genoa only.  There has been little loss in speed but it is a lot quieter with the main down.

We’re still heading in the right direction though albeit more slowly. We are nearer again to the main shipping lanes and we’ve seen a few big merchant ships today.

I had a nasty surprise earlier. I noticed the base of the mainsheet horse (the framework that holds the mainsheet) has cracked. I’m not sure how long it’s been like that but the crack is almost halfway round. I have lashed it up with twine but am not sure if it will hold in the long term or not. If it breaks completely I’ll have to find another way to sheet in the mainsail.