Mardi 10,30
Le vent est bien etabli depuis 16h, et le Blue Ocean garde une vitesse
moyenne au dessus de 9 knts – bien apres ce depart un peu lent. Entre 25 –28
knts de vent, toujours full mainsail et code zero, avec une houle qui se forme a
2,5 m, et un bateau tres soft dans la mer. Temps nuageux mais doux, on est a
hauteur de Mauritanie. Route sud ouest, encore 1 seul bateau en vue a 4,5 miles,
un monocoque racing 49ft, Je tente des essais de montage des videos, ca commence
a marcher - j`essaierai d`envoyer la go pro en tete de mat, plus safe que
d`aller soi-meme ;) . On reste aux pates, encore rien peche malgre notre
specialiste planctonique. mais ca ne saurait tarder > JH en forme, ecrit sans
relache son article, Fred va mieux, Laurent aussi – il a pu nous
entretenir quelque peu de Wittgenstein et de Russell avant de sombrer dans la
somnolence de son Touristil.
And now Craig is going to provide additional and international
informations for the english log !
best 2 all yv
The autopilot is now fixed – but we had a worrying moment this morning when
an alarm went off. We naturally thought it was the autopilot on the blink,
again. Luckily, it was just the coffee machine out of water! The crew are
settling in to the watch system – red, yellow and blue watches with Janusz,
Dariusz and Inge(sz) as watch leaders with two crew each in supporting roles
(i.e. we do very little). We are four hours on and eight hours off – long
watches but with ample time to sleep when off-watch.
We are on a long downwind run to Cape Verdi Islands at the moment with the
hope of turning west before we get there. There is a high pressure system
forming just north and west of the Islands which is why we want to get south as
quickly as possible with the hope of skirting the area of lightest winds. So
far, winds have been stronger than forecast (mainly 15-20 knots) and we been
sailing either goose-winged or on a broad reach the whole way.
We are mainly feeling fine (but see Yves report above) and eating well. The
sea is lumpy but Blue Ocean the swell in her stride. We seem to be well
positionned in the fleet – but it is difficult to be certain. Apart from those
boats around us with AIS transmitters, we only get daily email reports of the
whereabouts of the other boats.
That is all for now.
Craig