Against the wind

It is the third day out on the sea and the feelings are mixed. The wind has been against us from the front so the engine has been going hard the whole time.

It felt like we nearly did not move at all for a long time and when I was helmsman last watch we sailed on average 1,5 knots. It felt nearly impossible to steer the boat because the wind was so harsh. We had to trim the rudder maximum to port side and even then the boat could not hold the right course. After a while when we had 820 nautical miles or so left, we changed course and braced to go south instead of west, in the direction of Portugal.

Over all the weather has been verry windy but we succeeded to go around the big storm. Now it has cleared up and today we actually got a bit of sun. We have also set some sails which I think has made a lot of people happier. When there is no wind there is not as much to do on watch. If we are not helping the bosun or having lessons with the watch leader, all we do is just sitting and waiting. As you may understand life on Gunilla is not as exiting without really sailing. But it looks like we are going towards better times. We now have 702 nautical miles left and has sails up every watch even though the engine is still on. The storm we successfully passed is now on its way up to Sweden so watch out and hopefully you can get around it as good as we did!

Sonja, Midskepps