Miss Malin logbook - November 27, 2013

Before 06:00. It was another windy night with waves. The weather forecast said 13 knots of wind, maximum up to 20 knots of wind in the area. We sailed with full sails when the wind was up to over 30 knots, we measured speed records on the boat with a SOG of 13 knots. It was time to reef. Luckily, for a couple of hours the wind was constantly over 35 knots. In one of the villages I was at the helm, the anemometer measured 47 knots. We took down and sailed with minimal sail area, second reef on the mainsail and furled headsail. During the night we sailed past a major thunderstorm that was to our starboard. The storm was not heard, we only saw a mighty spectacle of lightning, so it was at a safe distance. 06:00. The morning dawns and it looks like it will be a good day, there were some rain showers and that washes us and the boat off before the sky clears. We notice that the night's storm has loosened one of the fasteners on the mast that holds the mainsail. No problem at all for Martin and Giovanni to repair, they even seemed a bit happy to have something to do in the quiet morning. 14:00. Mushroom soup with garlic bread for lunch. Today is the calm after the storm. We have 15-20 knots of wind, and a relatively calm sea around us. Ulrica tests a new recipe for the baking machine, a slightly coarser bread that tastes very good. Anders prepares yesterday's tuna in the frying pan and flavors it with some vinegar, lemon and soy. My playlists have been running around the clock for four days, so now it was time for Mattias to DJ. There was a lot of nittotal. After having bullied Giovanni the whole sailing because he is the only smoker on board, we now thank him for it instead, as all our lighters for the gas stove have stopped thinking or become waterlogged. Giovanni was very lucky to have an extra layer of lighters in his bag. 21:00. Chicken stew with rice and broccoli for dinner. 23:00 Anders and I are on duty as usual on our midnight shift. We went on at ten and get off at two. Anders is playing jazz by Monica Zetterlund on the speakers. There is just enough wind to push the boat forward with full sails. We have a completely starry sky above us, and nothing but a black calm sea around us, while the boat is moving at 4-5 knots with a course of 220 degrees. Our position is N24°53.580, W23°52.099. Best regards, Einar Halldin moresailing.se at 23:45 UTC on November 27, 2013.