Piriapolis, Uruguay to The Falklands: Day 7

December 14, 2018
Days distance: 24 nautical miles
Total distance: 587nm
Prominent Feature: Off Peninsula Valdes
Position: 42-33.4’S, 062-27.1’W

More slow going today. We were hoping solid Northerlies would push us all night before a frontal passage and headwinds in the morning. What we got instead were squally winds from all directions blowing between a calm and near gale. It created a confused sea state that we wallowed in while the wind was light. We rolled heavily sided to side and I had to hand steer because there was not enough wind for the windvane autopilot to operated. Then the wind would come heavy and we rearranged the sails only to have a shift that required a different set. Lightning was around much of the evening which can be unnerving at sea. At 3am the wind quit all together and with a diminishing sea we went below for rest. We stayed becalmed until 10am and I slept almost the entire time. Soon after waking the wind began to blow gently from the southwest. We set sail and did our best to make progress against the headwind. Deb made a hearty and delicious brunch of eggs, toast, and fried rice. About noo
n the wind was blowing hard enough that progress was uncomfortable, so we hove-to and took a break. We watched Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in “You Got Mail” and ate popcorn. The wind has moderated some and now we are beating again into the southwesterly with 3 reefs in the main and matched roller reefed genoa. We hope for a shift of wind later this evening giving us a better course to sail. All in all a tough day, but the sun is now out, we are sailing, and we just saw our first real southern giant; The Royal Albatross and its 10 foot wingspan.