Struggling to head south

08/04/02

    The rain eventually stopped yesterday, though the sun never came out, and as we are sailing close-hauled, we are constantly taking water over the bow, so we could still not get any ventilation below.  The wind has been hovering at 18-20 knots all day and we have been heeling rather uncomfortably.  Doing the dishes after dinner (another excellent chicken curry) was a real challenge, even with the strap holding me in place. 

    After dinner, we tied a couple of reefs in the main sail.  I accidentally tied the third reef cringle instead of the second reef cringle, and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get the main all the way up, thinking that the halyard was fouled on something on the mast, which is usually the case.  As it was dark at the time, I couldn’t see up the mast to tell if the halyard was free or not.  We were shining flashlights up the mast but could not find a problem.  Finally I realized my error, retied the proper cringle, and the main came up fine.  Once the reefing was done, things were quite a bit more comfortable and we settled into the cabin to watch “Moby Dick”.

    This morning the wind had moderated and shifted a little to throw us off course some.  We are struggling to work south below 5 degrees North latitude, where the current is supposed to be more favorable and the southeast trade winds begin.  It is important that we do not go too far west, since if we get caught in the equatorial current too soon we can easily miss Fernando de Noronha, with no possibility of getting back to it.  Of course the wind now is blowing SSW, and we are struggling for any southward progress we can make.  Also the current is pushing against us 1.5-2 knots, but at least it is not raining and is not unbearably hot, as the sun had been obscured most of the day.  At this point we are about 600 miles from Fernando and 300 miles from the equator.