Day 11

Our second day out from Lüderitz was spent catching up on sleep or on watch. Sleeping was made even easier by our newly fixed auto helm. We also regained what was lacking from our sea legs as we wobbled about in the rocking cabin or balanced gyroscopically in the cockpit.

The Rotary Scout has been sailing under her mainsail and her storm jib, which is tiny, and was hilarious when we put it up. It has preformed well despite its size (or lack thereof) and has balanced the boat as well as kept up good speed.

Just after lunch as the chilling was commencing, someone sighted a couple of dolphins, and brought them to the attention of the rest of the crew, who were eager for any kind of entertainment. A couple of dolphins soon turned into hundreds- all racing past our bow.

What must’ve been close on a thousand dolphins escorted us for about half an hour. It really was delightful and will remain close to us whenever we look back on our adventure.

We were left warm and chattering in the cool evening air and chowed down on warm bowls of pasta and mince, followed by our traditional peaches and Ultra-Mel.

That night was cloudy, but the swells were illuminated by glittering phosphorescent algae. So there were no stars above us, but rather stars below us as we sailed on.