Just had a shower on the platform at the back of the boat. A couple of
buckets of fresh but not cold sea water, some shampoo and soap, a
nailbrush and sponge and a fresh water rinse afterwards: I feel like
new.
The weather is definitely improving as we are heading further south.
even though it is overcast with some occasional sun it is becoming
obvious that we are now in Africa and not in autumn-ie Europe anymore.
We are now 420 nautical miles west of Kenita on the Moroccan coast and
162 miles north east of Madeira. The wind is still behind us and we are
exchanging spinaker for poled out headsail (mainsail and headsail on
different sides of the boat) and back. Unfortunately the startegy we
have chosen is not paying off too well. We are in 4th place and trying
to keep up with the lead group. Cape Breton Island is tryng to catch up
with us. As long as we sail the boat as fast as possible in th egiven
circumstances I am confident we will not fall back any further.
Last night the sailing was to my liking: light breeze (15kts) on our
stern, spinaker up, few waves but enough to make for some concentrated
helming and trimming (none of that muscle sailing in heavy waves and big
winds (20-25kts) we had the last few days). We crossed paths with a ship
and had two dolphins accompanying us for a short while. The algae supply
us with the firworks: the sea sparkles on our bow, the dolphin tracks
light up in the water and our wake and the occasional breaking wave
crest emit shimmers of light. Add to that the moon and stars. Need I say
more.
