Day 26
And more tales from the night watch!
What a glorious day, even though we motored all day long. Blue sky, warm sunshine, not wearing thermals! We must be heading south.
The engine purred at 1600 revs and even ran a little cooler over time pushing us forward over a flat calm sea at 6 knots without a murmur. So a relatively quiet background hum accompanied us on our mission, but Charlie had a suggestion. Rather than motor the whole of the rest of the way in a windless zone if we stepped a little further west off our direct course and are happy to arrive a day later, we might find a little wind on the edge of the developing area of high pressure to the north west of the Canaries. We had a quick chat, quick look at the grib file, and decided to take the gamble.
So here I am on the night watch again. The gamble paid off – Sukama is happy, the engine is happy to now be redundant, and we’re very happy to be sailing again – an unexpected bonus from how it appeared less than 24 hours ago. And what a beautiful night.
We turned the engine off at 10.30pm on Malcolm’s watch. He reported winds of 8/9 knots and was making his heading, just -3 degrees which is neither here nor there out on the ocean. The minute I took over at 2am the wind decided it had had enough and dropped to 6/7 knots for the next 3 hours meaning we kept moving but I gifted away over 10 degrees in order to achieve barely 4knots SOG (speed over ground for non-boaties!)
Apart from the huge benefit of being able to sail, the bonus was a night watch to die for. With very little wind it felt very still, almost as if we weren’t moving. Sukama wasn’t creaking as she usually does, wavelets thrown up by our passing danced around the hull offering lingering streaks of phosphorescence as the droplets mixed and mingled in slow motion within the water and up in the air, the relative silence was comforting like a mantle that surrounded us and held us entranced in its magical spell. Nothing was stressed or stretched or challenged. Every line, pulley and sail played its part but all in a relaxed manner. This was the action, but the backdrop left me feeling entirely humbled. Vibrant moonlight lit every square foot of sky and ocean encompassing 360 degrees in 3D, it flooded the entire theatre throwing a silvery path from the western horizon to Sukama across the gently rippling water. Night watches can be sublimely beautiful experiences. Are they perhaps the best way ever to achieve real time quiet contemplation?
How on earth did I end up here? How on earth is it remotely possible for a lass previously constrained by family expectations and limitations, and societal norms around learning disabilities, to have broken free and now find herself in surpassed beauty in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?
After departing below the western horizon, the stars had their time in the spotlight shining in all their glory, to be quickly followed by a stunningly photogenic sunrise. In less than 2 hours we’d moved from a moonlit night to starry inky black, to watching the sun rise and bathe our world in broad daylight.
So now it must be time for tea and breakfast!
Sue
Moonlit sailing
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Team members: Malcolm, Sue, George the autopilot, Charlie our weather router (Paul and Anthony left the adventure in the Azores)
Pete and T-J are in the UK receiving and sharing our updates via the wonders of satellite.
Photos and videos from previous crossings by Sukama.