Blue seas, blue skies, and blue sailors, because the boat blew off the head of the blast reacher in a stretch of aggressive time management the other day. The sail was furled and stripped, and fed below, where an impromtu sail loft was set up in the port bow. Then we started a little sewing bee in a sewer pipe. There is room for two at a pinch in the forward bow compartment, so the standby watch split into teams, and each spent an hour at a time forcing big needles throught the stiff head material, sewing yards of spectra webbing over the break. Sailmaker Whirly masterminded the procedure, marking a confetti of blue marks on the repair material, and we all followed with our awls and needles, joining them with spectra thread until the sail was deemed strong enough to hoist again.

After two days and a thousand stitches, the stand-by watch are happy to have something else to do today. The repair was finished just in time. After what seems like a long period of gentle north easterly breeze, the wind is showing signs of strengthening as we head west. Darts of cloud and mares tails in the sky indicate the huge low pressure to the northwest, but we are too far south to feel it’s headwinds. Unfortunately, it may effect us by weakening the Trades, putting another hurdle in our already frustrating trip to the Equator.