This morning I woke up full of energy. I want to put on some loud music to wake Louis up, but I know how precious sleep is on the water so I let him sleep. I don't have to wait very long. I go to the bathroom and when I get out he's already in the cockpit. I tell him that I have energy, he is happy and even before lunch, he makes me raise the two sails. So it burns me for the rest of the day. I told him to let me eat, but hey, he will have wanted it. I have less energy afterwards. The important thing is that I feel alive again and it feels good.
318 nautical miles before arriving in the Canary Islands.
We take advantage of the afternoon to chat and relax.
I was telling you about the anticyclone recently, and here we are, we are starting the road to get out of it. Hold on, let's start! So to help you visualize, imagine a ring. So we started at the top of the ring with the wind on port tack, so we were leaning to starboard. It's my favorite tack. Easier to walk inside the sailboat and pee there. We are a little leaning back on the seat so quite stable. We then had 1-2 days with less wind being in the center of the ring. Now we have started our passage at the bottom of the ring, so you will understand that the wind is now coming from the other side, so starboard tack, which makes us lean to port. But port side, I like less. You can't hold onto the table to go to the bathroom. And if you have the courage to go there, you have to arm yourself to hold on / push yourself against the door of the toilet cubicle to keep your balance. You also have to try not to pee your pants. You know, the little air gap, between the toilet bowl and the seat, can become a source of anxiety with the boat leaning to that side.
The positive is, we are going faster. We even think we will arrive in 2 days, in the morning. After more than 60 hours of engine, we take advantage of the renewed wind to please our eardrums and just listen to the wind, the waves against the hull. At 2 p.m., we turn off the engine. So peaceful!
Around 4 p.m., I see something jump behind the boat. I'm excited but I haven't had time to get my phone out so we continue to chat. A few minutes later, it jumps again behind the boat. I saw something black. I imagine the size of the fish. I'm a bit more alert. Then 3rd time, oh that's enough, I'm going to go sit in the back until I can take a picture of this fish. Arrival at the back, surprise:
It is the rudder of the Hydrovane, our autopilot in the wind, which swings at the end of a rope and hits the water. Oh how funny I found it. I was thinking so much about the fish that wasn't there. I warned Louis, who didn't believe me at first, and then pulled it out of the water. We found that it was broken. Which isn't funny at all. We have just lost our way of saving batteries and fuel, because the regular autopilot consumes a lot of the batteries and we therefore have to start the engine more often. It's also expensive as a system so let's just say I didn't laugh at it for long, but I was glad Louis thought of attaching it just in case.
We try to change our minds, we put on music and we sing. What pure happiness to see Louis sing like that.
Around 5 p.m. the wind is upwind. This is the least comfortable pace I would say. The sailboat heels a lot. We leave the engine for an hour to recharge the batteries then Louis will take a nap because the night is likely to be hectic. I stay in the cockpit and admire the ocean. Around 7 p.m. I return because I no longer find it very safe in the cockpit. I mean, without being strapped in with my harness so I walk into the cabin and lay right in the captain's bed (next to the engine). Louis wakes up soon after. He asks me to help him reduce sail because we are heeling a lot and that is not helping our speed. So we put on our harnesses and buckle up before tackling the sails.
We then go inside and go to bed straight away. We're not having dinner that night. We take a protein bar and that's it. We will restart the engine from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. because it seems that the batteries are not recharging and as I told you, the autopilot takes a lot of batteries. So we don't want to have to continue to take turns steering if the batteries no longer charge. It's a long 2 days to share the bar with only 2 people.
The waves even make the alarm sound several times, so you have to reduce the sensitivity so that it doesn't ring all night because of the waves. At least we know it works, so that's good. She had not yet sounded during the trip. So you imagine that things are moving a little more tonight.
Did I tell you about sleeping with the wind on starboard tack and upwind? It hits, there are waves, and in addition, instead of leaning on the outer side of the boat and therefore being able to sleep more stable against the wall and the bed, I slide towards the not very straight wall of the engine and I hear it very loudly. I won't get much sleep tonight, but you'll know that tomorrow.
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