All the signs were there or so I thought. We had just completed our second night of motoring, having motored throughout two long days as well. But as I looked out at dawn I could see a change in the clouds. They were more solid, denser, darker, more widespread. Could this be at last what we have been waiting for, wind. We still had only four to five knots, but I could sense the signs of a change on the way. The direction had changed too, a shift round to the west, the barometer up a couple of notches. Just after breakfast we shut down the engine. We had had more than enough motoring and were willing to try anything. It was time to play with the sails. We dragged the mizzen stay sail from the dark recesses of the cockpit locker. Up it went. Now we were flying four sails. But did it make any difference? We tweaked here and there but still we could not get more than five knots of boat speed. It was pathetic, as if we or Voyageur had forgotten how to sail, perhaps a combination of the two. The winds just refused to cooperate, too light, too variable. Completely frustrated at having put in the work with so little reward we doused it after two hours. Next we tried poling out the genoa. The result was the same. There is only so much you can do in 6 to 8 knots of wind. Oh, we cursed. Three hours wasted pfaffing about. We sat down to lunch at the cockpit table, avocado salad and fresh oranges washed down with ice cold beer, enjoying the day, the infinite peace and quiet and ghosted along at between three and four knots. The clouds that held such promise at dawn nowhere to be seen. We certainly cannot complain about the weather for it has been quite wonderful. Now at the halfway point all we have to do is the same again for three days and we should be there by Friday. We should just have enough fuel if the wind still does not make an appearance. None of the weather forecasts have tied in with out our Grib file downloads. Not that that makes any difference. We are not really interested in the racing aspect or tactics, we just want to get from A to B as quickly and as comfortably and safely as possible. A glimmer of hope came from the skippers of Asteroid and A Lady on the evening SSB net. Both now up at 27 degrees north they are sailing in fifteen to twenty knot winds. Let’s get there we cried and increased the engine revs. The fruit and veggies are still in plentiful supply with the exception of bananas going soft, so as nothing is ever wasted aboard this boat they were baked in honey rum to follow a chicken stir fry at suppertime. I have now become quite accustomed to around six hours sleep a night, I am even positively chirpy. But when I get to Bermuda I am going to sleep, sleep, sleep with perhaps a little bit of partying in between.
There are still ten yachts not reporting their daily positions. I sure hope that they are listening in at 8.55am and 5.30pm local time for any emergency rally traffic because if we are the ones unfortunate enough to have a problem and they are the nearest yacht to us should we require assistance.....