Bluewaft Log Day 16
Monday 5 December 2016
19°12’.098N 047°09’.126W
The winds have dropped again and we were forced to motor for about 5 hours
last night. We’re seeing wind speeds of 6-10kts from the South. Whenever
it gets up to 8kts we put the gennaker up. Fortunately we have a good
angle of sail – but it is still a bit of a worry given we have 900nm to go
and only 25% of our fuel left. From the weather reports we’re expecting
better winds from tomorrow and certainly some useful winds the last 200nm
out…so fingers crossed! While ‘Rambler 88’ set a new course record, I
suspect this will be one of the slowest ARCs ever. We’re fortunate in that
we have big fuel tanks and can motor along on one engine quite efficiently.
We feel for the smaller boats with small tanks that must be really
suffering at the moment! Christmas in the Caribbean anyone! ;-)
We’ve had a lot of company in the last 24 hours. A fuel tanker heading
East; a couple of sailing boats past to our stern going South last night;
and our new ‘wing man’ travelling with us on a parallel course since this
morning. Frustratingly no one is showing up on the AIS (or answering our
calls on the VHF). Anti-social, or perhaps a problem with our VHF? (We can
hear ourselves on the handheld though).
We also had a couple of humpback whales appear about 10m from our bow
during sun-downers. Fortunately they passed quietly under the hull without
a scratch – but quite disconcerting! (They were too fast for a photo and
for Marcus to see – but James and I both saw them – so it wasn’t the booze
talking!)
The daily checks have (fortunately) revealed no new breakages. We have
done an inventory and realise we have over provisioned (despite our best
attempts to put a dent in it). For brunch yesterday Marcus did a big fry
up with German sausages (of course), bacon and eggs (on black bread). For
dinner last night I did my traditional BBQ with steak, corn, potatoes,
peppers and egg plant (very healthy!). In general the food is holding out
well – with very little spoilage. We still have some loaves of bread and
plenty of vegetables. Alex is even growing alphalfa!
Plan today is to try and extract as much out of what wind there is and
minimise the motoring, even if it is at the expense of a few miles. We’re
still planning (hoping) to arrive Monday evening / Tuesday morning, so
hopefully one week to go!
Happy sails.
P1000848