712 nm SW of Galapagos
0700 report
It was blowing a steady 20 -21 knots through the afternoon yesterday and these winds continued all night long. We brought in the jib and traded it for the more dimunitive staysail before dinner yesterday, and left the staysail flying through the night. Motion was dampened somewhat, but seas are seas. We healed a lot less however, and this was a fair trade for 1 - 1.5 knots boat speed. Now, in the early morning hours, the wind seems to be abating as I am regularly seeing readings in the 15 - 17 knot range. Sea temperature has dropped from 82 degrees in the Galapagos, to 80 degrees through the Equatorial Current, to 78 degrees here and wind direction is also finally coming a bit more east. I am optomistic that we are geting away from the effects of the current, and that wind and seas will lay down a bit over the course of the day. As/if this happens we will again shake out the jib with the ability to sail a bit fatter (read as more comfortable) course towards Easter.
A 24 hour total of 197 nm 6AM - 6AM was quite respectable, especially when you consider we were only flying our staysail and a double reefed mainsail through the night hours. In terms of life on board, our delicious dinner of Jo's beef tenderloin bourgignon, fresh broccoli, and potatoes was followed by watching an episode of "24", which we have gotten into in a big way - good for morale!
If the wind and seas lay down a bit, we will try to fish again today. 1217 nm to go.
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