Delivery Day 10

After the excellent sailing of yesterday morning it was certain that we would have to pay for it sooner or later, and sure enough, by evening we were reefing the mainsail ahead of a torrential rain squall. After the squall passed there were some breaks in the cloud to relieve the darkness but the wind was quite frustrating, being very shifty and gusty, on top of the fact that the boat was rolling heavily in the confused wave patterns left by the shifting winds. At 02H00 another rain front passed over but by morning we were sailing slowly in lumpy seas again. The sky was completely overcast. We gybed as the wind backed from NW to SW with the main front passing over us with yet more rain at about sunrise. Behind the front the wind went very light and we shook out the reef. By mid-morning we were completely becalmed under a grey sky so motorsailed for about an hour before the wind suddenly shifted to the east and it began to drizzle again. Since then we have had torrential rain interspersed with continuous drizzle and winds that have backed and veered from east to south to north, necessitating several tacks and gybes. As I write it is still drizzling and there is a light easterly wind blowing.
As you can see from today's picture, the variable conditions have kept us all busy and even Pippa Potamus has been called on deck to help pull ropes!
After all my grumbling about the weather we did have one highlight to the day...seeing our first Albatross of the voyage. These huge birds are always a fantastic sight to see regardless of the prevailing weather conditions! I think this one was a Black-browed albatross, so not nearly as big as the famous Wandering albatross, but nonetheless an amazing bird to see.
Our position today is 35*26 S 019*33 W.