The story of our day is titled Wind and Rain.
The edge of the forecasted T-pecker caught up to us, and of course it did so at 3am. The wind doubled from 9 to 18 knots in a minute or two, and then continued building to between 25 and 30 knots. We started with a single reef in the main, then added one to the jib, then a second to the main, and so on until we were blasting along under staysail and triple-reefed main. Still trying to make progress upwind, it was a wet and lumpy ride.
All that reefing made us sweat, so when the rain started it felt great – a warm tropical shower. Which turned into a warm tropical fire hose, which became a warm tropical water jet. It rained so hard that it was hard to see the bow of the boat 30 feet away.
We’ve presumably now popped out of the southern edge of the T-pecker, as the strong winds have been replaced by moderate ones accompanied by a steady succession of squalls. This is apparently a feature of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, so we’re doing our best to enjoy being here.
The crew is drying out again. All’s well onboard.
Day Five: 145nm
9 33.5N 96 17.2W
