Thursday, February 11, 2010

Do We Look Tired?

Here we are hand steering for 6 days after our autopilot failed. Rob rigged a seat across the cockpit so we did not have to stand all the time, and we took shifts: 1 1/2 hours steering; 3 hours off for 24 hours a day for six days.
We could see the lights of Salvador from 70 miles at sea the night before we arrived - a very welcome sight.  Chuck is steering as we approach Salvador, our first landfall in Brazil, on February 11.


After a little sleep, we celebrated Chuck's 65 birthday on February 12 with some other yachties who had made the crossing from Cape Town a few days before our boat.
Chuck has now flown back to the USA.  The two of us (Rob and Natalie) will continue our journey, grateful for Chuck's help across the South Atlantic.