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Another day of fresh northerly trades has greeted the Amistad as she barrels south along the African coast under all sail except the light air kites. The quartering sea is beginning to stretch out and give us more comfortable ride, improving the crew's sleep and also cutting down on the banging of the gaffs as she rolls. Since leaving the Canary Islands last Thursday we have been making a steady 6 knots with the wind staying strong at 15-25 knots, but a low to the northwest had been giving us a sloppy, confused sea, not a usual trait of the trade winds. But typical of this voyage, we have been continuously chasing autumn and getting south just before the winter storm pattern sets in each area.
 Our latest Dead Reckoning position puts us just south of the 25th parallel, almost officially in the tropics. Even though it is a comfortable 75 degrees with the water the same temperature, we must remember that it is, in fact, the end of November and the North Atlantic gales are in full swing. As winter officially sets in the Atlantic gales creep further and further south. In Portugal, where we spent a month in beautiful summer weather, they have quickly transitioned into the winter rains and gales. Even right now in the Canaries there is a bit of a gale blowing, but every mile we sail south is a mile closer to the perfect trades where a long swell gently caresses your vessel as she presses on under full sail before a warming sun and cool breeze. Not a bad life to live in the trades, and believe me there is plenty of trades to go around. All around the world, in the vast expanse of Oceania, one can easily find the sublime trade winds. But here we are on a Baltimore Clipper sailing downwind along the massive west coast of Africa. To be sailing down the coast of Africa is a great privilege and experience. Things are just a little different here, from the Navtex reports of swarms of locust offshore but also just plotting our position on the sailing chart, seeing our slow progress relative to the landmass of Africa, even though we are moving right along. I have always appreciated how big Africa is, but seeing the land on the chart makes me revaluate the enormity of it. What looks like a sort of cape on a world map looks more like a slow curving coastline on sailing chart with the Sahara desert stretching endlessly eastward.
But we are making our way, and I am glad to say, all by celestial navigation. It has been a great joy to be navigating solely with the sextant, exercising and putting to use much of what I learnt in school and rewarding to compare accurate sights with the other mates. It has been a team effort between Paul, Hannah, and I to make sure we get a fix three times a day and so far we have been successful. Lately the cloud cover has been impeding some of our sights, adding to the challenge, but it looks clear out ahead and a good evening star sight might just be in my future tonight.
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