Monday, January 11, 2010

Sailing toward St. Helena

Our 5th day at sea and we have not sighted another ship during this entire time. At the moment, the sea is calm and the winds are about 13 knots from the SE. We have been flying our new red and white gennaker for 2 days and it is carrying us confidently and comfortably toward our destination. The first two days were rough and stormy; we sailed with two reefs in the main and reduced jib in gale conditions (wearing foul weather gear round the clock). After that, we reached the southeast trade winds and have had comfortable sailing since.
We bought two new sails in Cape Town: a jib and a gennaker. Both replaced sails that had not been properly sized for Wilhelm. She was like a girl with two dresses: one that was too tight (jib) and one that was too loose (gennaker). Now she is the belle of the ball, with two beautiful new sails that fit just right.
Thanks to advances in technology that seem remarkable to those of our age, we can post this entry while we are underway - transmitted through our high frequency (SSB/ham) radio through various connections and posted on the internet.
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