With the breeze going ever more SE, we decided to put up the second pole, drop the main and head off 30degrees to course. We allowed 15mins for everyone to get caffeinated as it was only 0915 local time. The planned 20min maneuver took closer to an hour and a half after the port gib-sheet anti-chaff protection slid out of position. This meant furling away both headsails, dropping the port pole, going up the forestay on the stay-sail halyard (last one available), re-attaching the anti-chaff protection with good-old reliable Duck Tape then proceeding with the plan….
Although initially slower, a more direct track has compensated for the drop in speed. A building breeze in the evening saw us back up to a 9.5kt avg speed on course….life is good!
300Nm to
SMC
27 19 S
006 09 E
0500UT