A squally, squally night

We had thought it odd that we hadn't experienced more wet weather to date. Last night made up for it. The squalls started massing around us in mid-afternoon and continued into the early morning. Follyfin was pleased to have her first proper wash down. Crew members were glad of full wet weather gear. But we came through it OK although our course was somewhat erratic. See, as the squall passes the boat, the wind usually increases and veers (that means changes in a clockwise direction). The watch-keeper has to be very alert to these sudden changes in order to keep the sail set in the correct direction to the wind. At present, and for the last few days, we have been sailing gull-winged with the fore and main sails set on opposite sides of the boat, and the wind coming directly from behind, over the stern. You can see that if the wind direction suddenly changes, that could play havoc with the canvas. Mind you, Jane the Vane (that's what we christened the self-steering gear) seems to handle most changes pretty well.

Early yesterday we encountered another challenge to our progress: the dreaded sargasso weed. A few small pieces were spotted floating past us in recent days. But yesterday morning we passed through a veritable carpet of the stuff. Think global warming is responsible for this development. Anyway, the weed of course bungs up the hydro-generator (essentially a small propeller towed behind the boat and connected to the batteries which are charged in this way). Hence our main source of power became progressively more useless as the day wore on. The solar panel pumps some charge in but the day was overcast … Solution? The Bosun with the help of Second Mate managed to convert the hydro-generator into a wind generator by upending it and attaching the windmill to the top. Sorted!

In other news, there's no news re baby’s arrival. And we are now sub-400 miles to go. Hoping to arrive on Monday … all other things being equal. Three days ago a 948 ft tanker aptly named British Ruby - for this after all is The Ruby Cruise - passed within 4 miles of Follyfin on its way to Egypt. First Mate attempted to engage their watch keeper in conversation over the VHF radio. He was polite but clearly somewhat phased by this random call from strange woman telling him about our Ruby wedding anniversary etc. Well, I hadn't spoken to anyone, Follyfin crew excepted, for two and a half weeks had I?

Last night we also spotted on AIS another sailing boat, named Tamala and not one of our fleet, 3-4 miles off our starboard bow. We were both dodging squalls at the time which may explain why they did not respond at all to my VHF call. Just dying to have a chat with someone aren't I! Have seen their sail this morning as we run abreast. Quite comforting to know other human souls are nearby in this vast ocean, even if they aren't listening to their radio.

Third and final meal of our dorado catch was had last night. So the lines are out again, hoping for a tuna. So far this morning only the dratted sargasso weed has been hooked, but we will keep on trying.