Another gale for VDH

Adrien heads for more northerly course

Day 40.
Position at 1300: 53°26'S / 107°03'W
Wind: 12 knots from SW. Moderate sea.
Temperatures: day 9°C / night 6°C / sea 6°C
Distance covered in the last 24 h: 128 miles.
To the antemeridian 2,725 miles.
Lead over Monnet: 5 days and 23 h.

Hi there,

Yet another gale during the night , which Adrien courageously made her way through. This morning, (we now have a time difference of 7 hours and the Sun is just coming up) the sky is full of threatening clouds.

Under each cloud there is a squally shower and the wind gets up to 25-30 knots. Between two clouds there are only 10 knots of wind and it is sunny, so Adrien doesn't have enough sail out. But there's not a lot we can do about it, as the squalls are so frequent that I would spend all my time out on deck hoisting or lowering the mainsail. These squalls will soon disappear, and behind them I will have several days of relative calm for this area!

I've just finished a great book, Rouge Brésil by Jean Christophe Rufin (Gallimard). It's a novel based on a real story that took place in Rio. It's books like this that during my youth (and still today) gave me the desire for adventure and the urge to sail the seas.

It's true too that my current adventure doesn't take me into many ports of call!

See you tomorrow,

JL VDH

A day with Cécile Baggiani-Tardieu's cuddly toy, Loustic the lion.