According to the Routeing chart we should be in an area where the wind is dominant from the NE at F4-5 with less than half a percent chance of getting a calm. But yet again we have found that less than 0.5 %. It’s very hot today as well. With no breeze to cool things down the sweat pours out of me just sitting still and the deck is almost too hot to stand on barefoot.
Yesterday night was different. The wind was very up and down all evening then at 2300 it steadied up from the SSE and was a good sailing breeze, about a F3, for the next 6 hours. The wind generator was turning for the first time in ages. I really thought we had turned the corner and had seen the last of this light wind for a while. But, by sunrise it had fallen again. The sky was veiled with thin cloud and there was barely a whisper of wind. From then until 1000 it stayed like that and then fell away altogether. I had a wash. A bucket of salt water and soap then a few dousings with bucketfuls of salt water and a final rinse with a litre of fresh water. I changed the bedclothes as well and everything felt a bit fresher.
I had the sails up again at 1100 when I thought I could feel a breath of air but they were down half an hour later. Three Dorado came around the stern but they weren’t biting. Later four big Dorado, 5-6 feet long came in but I didn’t even try to catch them.
I couldn’t get a noon sight today. The thin cloud completely covered the sun and, through the sextant mirror, it was just a diffused blur over a hazy horizon. After noon though the sky cleared and I got a normal sun sight. That’s when it really started to heat up as well.
Now, at 1430, there’s still no wind and we are wallowing again in a low swell from the NW. I had the sails up half an hour ago but it was pointless, they were just flogging constantly and we were going nowhere. Maybe tomorrow it’ll all change..
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