After a night with some strong wind shifts and a short stronger wind period, the night and the morning was less of the routine pattern than I first thought.

The wind shifts were funny. First we sailed for a while to SE then to SW and finally to NW. When we sailed NW I thought about changing the tack. Fortunately I successfully bet the wind shifts are only temporarily.

The strong wind period lasted maybe for 15 to 20 min. No squall around but I consider a big strato cumulus cloud at about 11:00 direction in a distance of 6 NM from MaRe to have brought this wind.

Tjasa, who stayed up after the end of her watch, went to bed without breakfast. She was too tired today.

So the breakfast with only Dennis and me was an exception in the routine a well. For me it’s important that we have meals together. First we are all around the table; second, it’s s good chance to have look at the latest wind forecast.

Today we changed the sail after breakfast. We increased from reef 2 to fill size main sail to make as much speed as possible.
Still we are slow because the wind speed is so slow. But we are moving in the right direction.

Until the far away horizon, the sea surface is tinted in deep blue. Ocean blue. The surface is sprinkled with small wavelets less then 30 cm height. Wavelets as they are typical for 2 Bft winds. Underneath of all this is the underlying swell. One, almost 100 m long swell rolls to MaRe from about 200 deg with a height of maybe 1 1/2 m. The other one, less in height rolls onto MaRe from about East. Although this should create a choppy sea, it is fast less bumpy then yesterday.

Tjasa still sleeps.

Dennis trolls a lure. Will he finally catch his dream fish today?

I’m sitting in the cockpit looking astern at the sea described above and thinking that MaRe left already her two tracks in the ocean since we left Vista Mar Marina and sailed the first 1500 NM of her voyage to the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia.