St Helena Outbound Day 13

Hi everyone,
We are currently in position 08 47S 027 59W, saillng at 4.5 knots on a course of 340M. The wind is E at 8-10 knots with a slight sea and a short 1.5m SE swell.  We are sailing under double-reefed main and full yankee.  Cloudless sky.  Our day's run was 125nm, our DMG was 106nm and we have 2533nm to go.

Visitor

It has been another 24 hours of very pleasant sailing.  The wind was steady at 10-15 knots until this morning when it lightened off.  At 1800 yesterday it backed from ESE to E and we gybed.  That put us on a course of 330M, straight towards our waypoint for the first time since leaving St Helena.  Naturally that didn't last long but even now we are only 10 degrees off course.  This explains the good stats despite the low winds.

Last night was moonless until about 0300 and there were only occasional small clouds around.  Very spectacular sky.

At around 0200 a guest arrived, a sooty tern (we think).  He perched on the reefed mainsail on the boom until daybreak. He or she wasn't fazed by torchlight or the camera flash, presumably due to exhaustion.  Other boats further north have reported flocks landing aboard and flying close around them.

Yesterday afternoon's HF net had 12 yachts reporting in.  One was an American single-hander who sailed past both St Helena and Ascension and has now set course for the Caribbean.  He likes his sailing!