We are at this point about 730 nautical miles from Saint Lucia and the countdown has begun!

Yesterday we tried to hoist the spinnaker again; the weather was quite calm and we wanted to practice our spinnaker skills. Unfortunately, a couple of minutes later the top port side of the spinnaker got stuck in the top spreader and was torn apart. Bengt, Per and Elina ran up on deck trying to save the spinnaker from getting into the water.

The same night we had a really good meal, Bengt and Ove cooked “pyttipanna” with eggs and beetroots and everyone had forgot about the spinnaker, but sadly there were more complications to come… On Elina’s and Bernard’s night watch the wind increased dramatically and the wind strength was at some points about 35-40 knots. It rained heavily and our speed was 6 knots with only three square meters of mainsail. The hard winds continued the whole night and as we reached the morning the pole accidentally jibed and the boom bracket broke. Luckily, Bengt had spare parts and was able to fix it.

According to the weather forecast the strong winds will continue and there are also warnings concerning thunderstorms and isolated showers. At this point we have shortened the sails and are on the right course to Saint Lucia. We will hopefully cross the finish line in about 5- 6 days.

The Basil plant is still alive, barely. It is heading towards a certain death. The number of leaves that are still green and vital is constantly decreasing.

Thank you for all your comments and Malin sends a special thought to Bertil Palmcrona! Miss you a lot!
Over and out, for now.

 
Bengts lifejacket accidentally inflated, ( so did Pers )



Spinnaker-mess...



Per on his night watch, maybe we should be worried?



Sunrise the morning after a windy night..



Everyone got soaked except Per, notice that our swedish flag tried to take off during the windy night.