The last three days of the passage focused on gaining speed and easting. We were determined to get to the Virgins on Sunday, even if this meant arriving at night, in order to avoid the 25 knots winds forecasted for Monday. The winds were still light and from the southeast...There was a bit more cargo traffic, from west to east, which made us more vigilant...we had seen nothing for the first 5 days of the passage! Saturday morning, the wind is strong enough that we shut down the engine: unfortunately, still from a mostly southeasterly direction. We decided that we have no choice of directly aiming at our way point, which is just north f the Anegada reef and that we will then head to Virgin Gorda in order to have the shortest distance to our landfall. We are extremely pleased to see that the wind is going more easterly and enables us to reach with a speed between 5 and 6.5 knots, depending on gusts. By Sunday early morning, the wind speed has increased and seas are as predicted: 5 to 6 foot swells with a 3 to 4 chop on top..we need the 20+ wind speed to sail through that mess. The seas are very different from those we experienced arriving to Bermuda although the wind speed is the same: these choppy 4 feet waves remind us of Lake Ontario! We get no water in the cockpit but some spray comes in the dodger or hits us on the side; as we have weather clothes, however, we do not get wet!
Emmanuelle et La Buena Vida: trouvez une similarité!!!! Comme nous avions decidé d’arriver coûte que coûte aux Iles dimanche, même dans la nuit, nous devions aller vite et droit sur le waypoint GPS au nord du récif d’Anegada...le vent étant encore de l’est, il nous était impossible d’aller plus vers le sud-est et nous devions être en mesure de composer avec les conditions (vents de l’est 20-25 noeuds avec houle de 6 pieds plus vagues de 3-4 pieds dessus) qui étaient annoncées pour dimanche. Alors...comme être à la barre est quand même fatiguant et que nous voulions éviter le plus possible, nous devions faire appel à notre Pilote automatique où à notre régulateur d’allure au lieu de barrer nous-même...mais dans les conditions difficiles, ni l’un ni l‘autre ne faisant l’affaire, Heiner décida d’utiliser les deux en même temps, méthode assez peu orthodoxe mais qui me fit penser que La Buena Vida, comme Emmanuelle, aime les Intellectuels et les Manuels.........