No winds at all were turning to 25 knots, corresponding to 6 Beaufort wind force or strong winds. On land such winds move big branches of trees and you can hear a whistling in the air. 20 knots would have been sufficient for me. Yes, I know, stop complaining! Tonight, we had fun in these conditions.

Quite large wave were rolling through, raising Moya before letting her down again, each time pushing her to the left or right. Sitting crosswise to the sailing direction, it felt as bobbing about endlessly. Moya was sailing in between cargo ships and tankers, still lined up on both sides of her. She was moving westbound quickly, but was for hours gradually pushed out of the middle into the easterly going lane. We were going dead downwind or actually almost with winds from the false side, thus couldn’t bear away to sail back where we were supposed to be without risking unwanted violent gybing. Despite the boom being secured by a preventer, to hold it in place even with winds from the wrong side, we wanted to be on the safe side and not risk damaging our rigging. Bearing away was not an option, neither was moving on the wrong lane against the eastbound traffic. The forecast predicted a northerly current, that was supposed to push us back on the right course, but it wouldn’t come.

3am in the morning Moya was already moving almost half a mile within the wrong lane. We couldn’t ignore it any longer. We were hardening up our main, gybing and finally going crosswise to the shipping lane. We aimed to cross the middle lane, gybe again and go back on the same course as before. That way we wanted to avoid changing our sail configuration during the night. It was working. By now the current was setting in and we are back on track despite winds and swells. On the positive side: In these conditions pirates are definitely not coming for a visit. It would be suicidal with their small, open skiffs. We on the other hand are finally flying.