A third of the way
Low Pressure Systems travel eastwards along the South Pacific, uninterrupted by any landmass.
They grow, they interact with each other and with the Highs both at lower and higher latitudes, they join forces, gain strength and eventually dissipate.
And so the winds blow, shift, change. The swell and waves develop. The ship works with the wind, she adapts to it. She rolls and pitches and heels with the heavy seas. And as such, we start another day.
In the early morning the wind shifts to a Northwesterly. The beginning of the day sees us pulling on braces to square up a bit, clewing up the starboard side of the course to let the wind run forward, dousing Deckswabber. There we go now, rolling on a south-easterly course running before the 20 to 30kn of wind. Dealing too with numerous squalls. They come with fast-passing rain and hail.
Like that, EUROPA tries to speed up on the following winds, looking for relatively calmer conditions just to get ahead of the strong winds associated with a deep low-pressure system following us. In that manner, she sailed today 164 nautical miles, 158 of them counting in a straight line.
After about two weeks on board, she has sailed about a third of the way to the Horn. Two weeks that brought us to a sort of routine for life on board. The daily schedule revolves around meal and coffee times, sitting in on the daily meetings with the Captain after dinner and when we have to show up for our watch. Our time slot at the wheel or on lookout. The time for the daily cleaning of the ship too. A pattern that often breaks when hands are called on deck to set or douse sail, brace yards to adapt to the wind changes, or climb aloft to furl or prepare sails to be set.