Day 20

We all thoroughly enjoyed Kerryn’s chocolate cake that she treated us to for her birthday, and her wish came true – the wind did pick up a bit!

We jury-rigged a bowsprit by lashing our spinnaker pole so that it extended over the bow of the boat, allowing us to fly 3 sails at once – the mains, genoa and the gennaker.

Whilst relaxing at lunch time, a bride’s whale was spotted just off the stern – about 10-20 meters away, and the crew rushed to try (unsuccessfully) to capture it with the GoPro. The weather was hot and the sea was pleasantly warm, so they remained in the water for a while after the whale had departed.

In the evening, we attracted a shoal of dorado with our fishing lures, and watching them jump at the lures was great fun, even though we didn’t catch any big enough to eat.

We have been experimenting with all the micro-climates around us, seeing if heading near the small systems will give us more speed, and generally making the most of the minimal wind.

After supper we saw a sailboat in the distance, and were informed by our AIS that it was a Polish boat, and we all took turns looking at it with binoculors. During the nightwatch a pod of porpoises was also spotted, and it rained lightly this morning:)