The wind has fallen into a regular daily pattern now. Mid-morning is the start of the steady trade winds – they blow at 10-15 knots and make for fantastic sailing.
As soon as the sun sets two things happen. First, the wind strengthens by a few knots. Since the force of the wind in the sails increases exponentially as the speed increases, this means that we put a reef in the sails before sunset.
Second, a series of squalls start to blow through. Sometimes accompanied by light rain and sometimes not, the squalls invariably increase the wind even a bit more before blowing through and leaving a giant wind vacuum. We seem to have a half hour of steady wind, a half hour of stronger wind, and then a half hour of very light wind.
In the morning, the squalls back off as the sun rises and the cycle begins again.
It doesn’t make for the most restful night watches, but it does give us a lot of practice at reefing the sails in the dark…
Day Six: 144nm
11 8.0S 98 51.4W
