While the winds were great at night, they quickly faded to 15 knots at 09:00 and then by around 11:00 I had to furl in both sails as they were just flapping about as the boat rolled and turned on the engine. I’m now motoring at a heading of 160° true at 7 knots (1800RPM and eating 6L/hour) so that I can get south of a low pressure system that is building up quickly. This would probably become a powerful storm so I’ve got to head south. Normally, the difficulty is getting far enough east before getting into the zone with trade winds, but my meteorologist has said that by the time I get far enough south there will be a strong south-wind which will overpower the trades and that would make for a nice sail to the east close-hauled.
Rib hurts.
I’ve been doing e-mails all day with the SSB radio and Pactor modem. It is really slow at about 2400 Baud, but it is great to be in touch while at sea, a unique experience for me.
