The good, the bad and the ugly

I should never have asked for more wind ! The gods of the sea heard me
and they have sent plenty of it.
When we left Cocos, it was all good and beautiful. Strong following
winds, not too much sea, and as a result we covered more than 170 miles
in the first day. We could almost see ourselves get to Rodriguez in less
than 12 days.
Then came the second day, with much less wind, lots of showers, confused
seas. It was almost all bad and the daily mileage dropped to 160, thanks
to 17 miles of favorable current. The actual wind was down to 15 knots
and when we are going downwind, Papy Jovial needs at least 20 knots to
get going at a good speed.
Last night, about midnight, it came. First of all, heavy shower, long
and steady, with the wind increasing gradually to 35 knots. And this has
been the story all day. Lots of showers, wind at 37/38 knots with gusts
at 45, sometimes 50, even once 52. As a result, we are down to a very
small jib and no main, and the mileage, although not catastrophic, was
down to 156.
Hopefully, we have gone through the peak of that system and we should be
able to resume normal course and speed by tomorrow.
This is pleasure boating at its best. We continue to have leaks at the
passage of the mast through the deck and at the forward hatch which
makes life a little unpleasant, at best. There is not much we can do in
those conditions, but we will try and get to the bottom of it once in
Rodriguez.
Cooking also becomes a little more challenging, but we are not giving
up, and we maintain our normal routine of continental breakfast, lunch
with either a salad or a sandwich, and a cooked dinner.
We have now covered almost a quarter of the way to Rodriguez and I am
sure that the remainder will be a lot more pleasant sailing.