Day 12: Calm
Winds vanished. Totally. We have been hoisting our light wind sail, but even the spi just hangs on its halyard and slightly moves with Moya’s swinging in the almost non existent swells. There it is! The calm everybody was mentioning. Apparently, it is almost stationary northeast of Soccotra. At least that’s what our Grib files are telling already for weeks.
After just 17 engine hours since Uligan, we had no other choice than motoring, tonight. In the meantime, we are floating with less than 2 knots in the right direction. Winds dropped to 3 knots, but a slight westerly current pushes us forward. Henry gets a well deserved break, at least as long as I’m bearing the slowness. This clam is exceptionally frustrating as 200 miles to the west nice winds are currently blowing which might be fragile and not lasting. Missing these winds might be resulting in our passage taking much longer, as our large diesel stocks still are not quite sufficient for motoring the whole way.
The atmosphere on board is dense, our moods were dropping as winds were.