After a night of light winds and a day under full sail, we got our first Drake Passage present:

Summer on its end

A rolling cloud, with rain and wind. Everything had been prepared in time and without significant difficulties, the front passed just before dinnertime with 45 knots of wind on the meter. By then, the Western horizon already showed a thin band of blue sky, in which the sun was setting behind a veil of rain. In the meantime it’s already dark again, a sign that the summer is about to come to an end.

As on Rails

We are sailing under a crispy-clear sky, with Orion, Scorpio, the Southern Cross, Jupiter and Saturn to accompany us. The Magellanic Clouds are almost invisible on account of the bright glare of the moon, which sits low on the horizon in our wake. On a beam reach, we are sailing as on rails. That is, when our new helmspersons succeed in keeping the old lady on course. The times when our course coincides with the setting of the sails, we just reach nine knots. For many , helming is still a bit challenging, but the almost 6000 nautical miles still to come, will give plenty of opportunity to touch up on helming skills!