Gentlemen only sail downwind!
15 Sep 2013 | Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka
Like
Back at sea, 1850 miles to Sri Lanka. The first three days are good, with quite a rough sea but good winds. But the rest turns out quite hard, the only few time we don't spend fighting thunderstorms trying to blow us opposite direction (with up to force 11 winds, on a scale of 12) or to bury us under water, we are totally becalmed and can only enjoy a good swim in the biggest swimming pool ever.
We fight for every mile in the right direction, happy when we do 50 in a day (on normal conditions, we should double that), at night, when I'm not alone on watch learning sailing the hard way, I experience what it would be to sleep in a washing machine, water included as for the countless leaks in the boat and the waves splashing my bed each time I forget to close my hatch. And when finally we're close to reach it, the currents and the winds decide otherwise, pushing us North-East of Sri Lanka while Colombo is in the South-West. After four days fighting with storms, currents, trying everything, even motoring, and doing only 15 miles a day, we decide to try our luck on the other coast. We turn around and literally fly with the wind and the current, doing up to 12 knots (our normal cruising speed is usually 3 to 5 knots)...
As David says, gentlemen only sail downwind!