Askari Position Report 0800 local time (1300 UTC) 23 February 2020
01 Degrees, 31 Minutes North
083 Degrees, 21 Minutes West
24 hours 192 miles
Sailing at 7 knots
16 knots of wind from the North East
Course 260 Degrees Magnetic
Sailing Starboard Tack - Broad reach
I don't like it when the wind whistles in the rig and water splashes in the cockpit!
Yesterday morning was glorious downwind sailing, poled out, blue skies, long rolling swell and 20-22 knots of wind pushing us nicely along. In these conditions we hardly feel the boat moving, Askari loves it! We noticed however the sea was really starting to get quite big, Andrew kept laughing at me as I wrote in the log it was 1.5 metres - as another one towered up over the back of the dinghy - yeah okay maybe I underestimated that….
We had a lovely warm chicken and potatoe salad for lunch and then decided we should make a little more westing. So we pulled the sail away from the pole and sailed downwind at 120 degrees on the starboard tack. No sooner had we made this change, and also set the mainsail so we weren't too overpowered, the wind picked up to over 30 knots.
It peaked at 35 and the seas quickly got even bigger, one sploshed on top of the dinghy cover and then a couple on hitting our back quarter jumped straight onto the side deck getting the cockpit cushions wet. Luckily as the seas had picked up I had pulled the fishing line in and stowed the loose cushions. I wasn't going out on the aft deck in this. Then the noise in the rig started to make me really anxious; (it's a while since I've been in these sort of conditions) seeing my white knuckles Andrew gently suggested maybe we keep sailing directly downwind until this passes. We pulled a reefed sail back over and the quiet and calm was restored, we know we are sailing towards the doldrums so just need to make the best of the sailing while we can.
After dinner the wind eased to about 25 knots and we were whizzing along at 9 knots when we spotted an AIS target south of us going 5 knots on a converging course. We thought this must be a fishing boat - maybe a long liner; we had seen them in Panama complete with their helicopters on top. Then just as we were discussing what sort of distance to give it, the signal got clearer and it declared it was a sailing yacht. 'Fleur' no less, the British yacht we transited the canal with. Nick was solo sailing towards Easter Island, on the radio he said it had been a few days since he'd spoken to anyone, he wasn't enjoying the strong winds and had broken his steering - since fixed, which must have been quite a task for one person in these seas. We sailed off behind and south of Fleur and wished Nick well.
The night was uneventful and bizarrely we still have great wind and current, we have now set a waypoint for Wreck Bay, San Cristobel - 402 miles to go!
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