Lat: 13 32.186′ S
Lon: 16 11.321′ W

The last couple of days haven’t been our best. Skies have been overcast and we’ve been surrounded by rain squalls from hours before dawn until nearly sunset. Between the squalls, winds have been extremely light and the squalls themselves have resulted in winds shifting around through 180 degrees within a 24 hour period. Yesterday we had wind on the starboard beam at one point and right now it’s on the port beam. It’s feels like an early taste of the ITCZ. It’s been nice hearing from other boats on our twice-daily radio skeds and it sounds like light winds have been the norm for everyone so far, although boats that have crossed north of the ITCZ are finding the NE trades to be stronger and more reliable.

Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been our only problem. Yesterday morning Tracey and I were setting the spinnaker, which had become nice and routine, when I made the mistake of pulling the line to raise the sock surrounding it before she had a chance to cleat off the halyard. She was hosting the sail in it’s sock and my job was to pull the line that raised the sock and exposed the sail once it was raised and in position. I failed to make sure she was finished before I started, and as a result the full spinnaker popped out of the sock and filled with air while the halyard (line used to raise the sail) was still in her hands instead of cleated off securely. A spinnaker full of air produces quite a bit of force, and the result was a pretty bad case of rope burn on her left hand and a few burn spots on her leg as well caused by flaked halyard line running free. Within a couple of seconds, the bitter end of the halyard was at the top of the mast and the spinnaker was in the water underneath the boat. Just when you’ve got something down to a routine…

Luckily conditions were light, so we had time to get the fishing lines in before they were tangled in the props. Tracey got some burn cream on her hand and leg while we managed to pull the spinnaker to the bow and out of the water. Going up the stick at sea is always an adventure. Even in very good conditions, you’re still holding on with both hands and both feet to keep from getting tossed around and against the mast like a lure dangling from a fishing pole. The spinnaker itself didn’t fare too badly. It has plenty of blue bits of bottom paint scattered here and there, and one panel has some abrasions and tears that were probably caused by barnacles on the bottom of the boat. After raising flying it for 40 minutes or so just before sunset, it was dry enough to put a bit of duct tape on both sides of the tears and re-hoist it. With Band-Aids (a.k.a. plasters) in place on both Tracey and the spinnaker we prepared for another night at sea. Hopefully there’s a sailmaker with a good selection of spinnaker cloth in Recife.

Duct tape really does work miracles…

Pulling in the fishing lines before dinner, we found that one of them had lost the leader and lure, which seemed about right for the day. Oh well, you can’t have sunny skies, calm seas, perfect breezes, and fish on the hook every day. Maybe tomorrow…