Rough Night but Great Sailing Day
29 November 2017 | Off Cuba
Helen
Due to lack of wind last night, we wanted to motor with the starboard engine just prior to getting to the tip of Cuba because we didn't want to smell the exhaust from the other side. It would not start. Ran the port engine instead so we could make some headway. When we rounded the corner at the west end of Cuba, we were 15 miles offshore and the seas were huge. It truly was a roller coast for the entire night. We took turns at the helm thru the night and into today. We did love having the extra light from the moon, but when it sets, the sky was very dark. There were so many unfamiliar constellations in view. Sailed with the jib only on the lumpy seas. Waited for daylight to hoist the main sail. Seas continued to be 6-8 foot. We were off course on our rum line to Grand Cayman due to the direction of the wind but sailed as close as we could. As the day progressed, the winds shifted to the north-east from south-east which allowed us to get back to our rum line. The sun rose so beautifully but then it was covered in clouds for most of the morning. It looked like rain in several places. Eventually the sun came out and charged our solar panels. Mark did some maintenance on the dinghy and rigging. Then ran the water maker for a couple of hours to top off our tank. With the engine failure, Mark decided to replace the starter and it worked beautifully. The seas flattened out nicely. We were able to have a hot early dinner. The winds should die down for tonight, but the forecast has been wrong each night. This was the first time in four days that we saw a lot of sunshine. AIS is working fine now and has been very useful identifying and avoiding other ships.