Another Up and Down Night

The past 2500 miles of sailing have taught me one very important lesson: tradewinds are not as steady as everybody makes them out to be. Granted since leaving Tahiti I have had wind for all but 36 hours or so, but the wind has never maintained a steady speed for any extended period of time. Instead the trades are erratic and at night often squally keeping a sailor on his toes and active through what should be his prime resting hours (after all sleeping in 80 degree heat with the sun nearly overhead isn't a walk in the park). Last night was the second straight example of this, and once again my dad seemed to take the brunt of it on his watch (0200-0500) which immediately follows my three hour bout with Mother Nature. The wind jumped from it's till then normal 17 knots up to 25 or more causing me to put a third reef in the mainsail and tuck the jib in part way. That done I laid down for some needed sleep only to awake less than thirty minutes later as Avventura rocked strangely back back and forth. Getting up to look the wind had disappeared almost completely, blowing an anemic 5 knots. I shook a reef out of the main, unfurled the jib, and let dad deal with the rest. Within another thirty minutes the wind was back to the 17 knot range and we are back to nice sailing as the sun climbs the eastern sky.
All things considered yesterday was a fairly nice day of sailing. We made good another 126 miles (best yet this leg) and upped our moving average to an even five knots. Add to that the handful of Mahi Mahi we landed, one delicious meal, and two precious hours of sleep for yours truly and it was my best day of sailing in some time. Here's hoping for more of the same.

Scott de 25.58N y 155.03W
El 18 de Junio, 0740

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