Game change

When I took my watch this morning at 6, we were still battling 35
knots of wind, 10 feet swell and trying to run as fast as we could
without breaking everything. By the end of my watch at 9, we were back
to full genoa, full main, wing on wing and the wind dropping. By noon,
the wind had dropped below 10 knots and we set up the gennaker for a
broad reaching run.The actual distance to Luanda, as the crow flies, was
798 miles, but the wind being straight behind us and forcing us to go
broad reach tack on tack, we will probably have to cover 1025 miles to
get there.
The forecast for the week to come looks like continuous light winds from
the SE directions. This is no longer a battle with the brutal forces of
nature, but a more elaborate game of moving towards our target playing
with the variability of the wind and the capabilities of the boat.
Almost like getting as fast as possible around the downwind mark in a
regatta, except that this mark is 340 n.m. away and the wind is likely
to change directions several times and we must playing in such a way
that we don't do unnecessary extra miles.
The temperature is beginning to improve, 75 during the day, 69 last
night. Also the humidity is not as much as it was when we cleared Luderitz.
Unless we manage to find some better wind, it looks now likely that we
will get to Luanda Monday morning, October 25th. We are still hopeful
for a nice change in the forecast anyway.