We are all getting used to the Europa’s watch system, as we sail southwards with all our canvas set towards our goal, Cape Horn Steering, lookouts and sail handling are the duties of the voyage crew on board, and we are all improving quickly on them instructed by the permanent crew and helped by the fellow travellers that had been on board for one or both legs of this Cape Horn Discovery Commemorative trip.
quick improvement
We are all getting used to the Europa’s watch system, as we sail southwards with all our canvas set towards our goal, Cape Horn Steering, lookouts and sail handling are the duties of the voyage crew on board, and we are all improving quickly on them instructed by the permanent crew and helped by the fellow travellers that had been on board for one or both legs of this Cape Horn Discovery Commemorative trip.
High temperatures
During the night, early morning and sunrise the temperature and breeze makes the work on board more comfortable, but as soon as the sun rises around breakfast time, the temperature rises over 30º C and all the jobs on board are conducted under high temperatures and blue skies. During this morning, and as the temperature raises together with the sun, the wind drops and our sails start to flap. At that point, around 10:30h we start one of our engines to give us a bit more push and keep a steady speed over 5 kn, needed to keep going with our program and gain a bit of time on our Cape Horn adventure.
Increasing speed
In fact officially we still can use motor power until approximately Rio de Janeiro latitude. From there onwards the rest of the trip should be done under sallower only, crossing 50ºS in the Atlantic, rounding the Horn and sailing North in the Pacific to 50ºS as well, to comply with the Amicale des Capitaines au Long Cours Cap Horniers (AICH) rules of a proper traditional crossing of Cape Horn. Its until around 16:00h when we motor sail, then the wind increases, filling up our canvas and allowing us to sail at 6 kn. Our speed increases later on to 8kn during the night.