Motor, Motor Motor to Bahia Santa Maria

We've sailed about 5 ½ hours today which was better than expected. I did have hopes for the day early this morning when I got the sails up at around 04:00 The wind was 10-15 knots form the NE and looked like it was going to hang around. It died. Around 10:00, the wind came up again so sails up (all of them). It died. I lost count today of how many sail changes I made. Mizzen up, then main down, then main up with one reef. The mizzen came back down. The main went up all the way. The headsail came in and the motor went on. It's been on ever since (at 11:30 this morning). Cathy made fresh bread, we made 20+ gallons of water and generally the day drifted away. We have kept the revs down to keep our speed around 5 knots so hopefully our fuel consumption will reflect our miserly nature. We should make Bahia Santa Maria by around 08:00 or so give a take. We talked to Indian Summer earlier and they're ahead of us and will probably get there around 04:00. They have a Beneteau First 42.7 tall rig and typically make around 7 knots so….. The stern light died last nighy so we used the anchor light as an all around white. I replaced the buld today and it looked fine but now, no stern light again. Ah the joys of marine electrical systems that are 30+ years old. I'll get to the bottom of it tomorrow.

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