Enjoying comfortable sailing days

After the first week of slamming into the waves, we change our course to the North. At the same time, the waves become smaller, which gives us a couple of days of great sailing. The clouds in my head go away and instead of just looking out of the cockpit, talking to passing birds and making stories by what I see in the clouds, I am able to listen to podcasts, watch some movies and get my e-reader out again. Miguel keeps himself busy with watching movies and texting with the boats around us. It is nice to chat with other people about the sailing, which course to go and discuss the weather. The 2 boats behind us are faster than us, so we keep an eye out for them to overtake us, but with the speed we have been doing, it takes longer then expected! On Saetta we discuss ‘pineapple in salad, yay or ney?! Miguel goes for yay, I am not too convinced, but I have to say: it grows on you. The last couple of days we have sailed with our spinaker during the day, and we used the engine for 2 nights. We don’t like to fly the spinaker during the night: if the wind changes in direction or speed, we might have to change things quickly and it is not always easy to take the spinaker down, specially not in the night. Last night we were able to sail with a poled out Genoa. We expect to have barely any wind on Wednesday. At the moment we are doing 2 knots, the engine will come on soon. Thursday and Friday the wind will pick up again, we expect that it will be much more uncomfortable for a couple of days.
Our mood is good, although today I woke up very tired, so my morning wasn’t very cheerful. After my shift (from 06.00-12.00) I took a nap, which made me feel more rested. Miguel keeps an eye out ok thev weather, specially the 2 lows that are passing. We think we have passed our half way point, but since we can not go to the Azores in a direct line, we keep on adding extra miles to our trip. It is hard to say what is half way, but we are definitely getting closer!

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