Thurs 10th April '08 Distance made good to Trinidad: 93mls Wed, 109 mls today....!
A lovely day of sailing in nice wind under 'Trade wind' sky.... Let out final reef early on in lighter wind again - wind has moved aft, being E rather than the ENE we've had mostly. Now have full sail hoisted and a current which added 0.8 kn to our speed - lovely to see... & just at the right time, since windspeed down (and from abaft the beam) meant boatspeed down - from 7kn to 5.5 kn by this evening, so really helpful - meant SOG kept up into 6-6.5kn range over day.
Current has also been very helpful when hove-to... we've made 10 miles (in roughly the right direction) over my sleep periods!!!
One worry is the mast connection to the vang/kicker is knocking badly - clearly worn & needs more washers to take up a space that has appeared & now allows too much movement - so it jerks badly at times even though the seas have calmed down a lot by comparison with a few days back.
Has been another hot, bright day - I'm so lucky that my course and the sun's position over the day combine to put the sun behind me up to midday (I'm helming from 6am to 2pm) and then when I come back on deck at around 6pm, after my sleep etc, I'm shaded from the sun because it is now beginning to set behind the sails, my course being WNW... All I need is polaroid sunglasses to protect my eyes from the reflected glare across the water....