Day 8 on the Atlantic
11/25/2010 18:00 by Thorsten Böhnke
We’ve been underway across the Atlantic for 8 days by now.
Our position is 11°43’N, 41°00’W.
After the calm days thus far, we now have more wind: this morning approximately 32-34 knots. We made it safely through our first squalls (a sudden increase in wind speed). Squalls usually also bring rain with them; hence, we took advantage of the opportunity for a welcome freshwater shower.
The notorious squalls bring gusty winds - and welcome freshwater showers.
Our spinnaker halyard just broke. Luckily we were able to drop the sail. However, we now need to come up with another method to increase the surface area of our sails.
We’ve covered approximately half the distance across the Atlantic, but can’t be sure that this means we’ve also reached the halfway point in terms of time. That’s just how things are when your driving force is the wind: you can say where you are, but never where and when you’ll arrive somewhere.