16 Jan: At night it seems we were fighting between two winds: when it drops to 11kts the cutter backs; but then it picks up to 17kts and we are flying along again. The forecast shows that we are coming to the end of the stronger trade wind zone that extends out from the “bulb” of East Africa into the mid-Atlantic. In that zone winds are 20-25kts. West of that, where we are heading into, the easterly wind quickly drops to 12-17kts. We liked the strong winds but we are looking forward to calmer seas.
At 09:00 GMT we pass into a new time zone: GMT-3. One more time zone to go; the Caribbean is in zone -4. Today is generally overcast but there is just enough sun for a midday sextant sight. Glen is happy that he gets it within 15 miles of our actual position after his calculations.
No sail changed today. Can’t be bothered! Just the cutter in and out a couple of times. Instead, Glen and Ellie are finishing the job of changing all the interior light bulbs to LEDs and fitting a new fan to the guest bedroom. Both emerge for fresh air an hour later looking a little greener than before!
During the night the ensign had fallen off the top of the flag pole. As Glen repairs it, Oana tells Ellie the story that this is our 4th flag pole so far. Ellie listens and decides the summary has to be the quote-of-the-day: “Glen has gone through 4 flagpoles. The first was too old, the second was too big to fit in the hole and the third was too short. Finally he has one he is happy with”.