615 miles to go 2411 miles sailed
First the answer to yesterdays quiz
Joanne from Littleton we owe you a TURKISH DELIGHT!!
Another little bit of fun was that David decided to dispatch a "message in a bottle". We put a couple of dollars in an empty champagne bottle with a note asking anyone who finds it to drop us an email - we are not hopeful!!
You may have noticed that the distance sailed and the distance to go add up to an ever increasing number. The distance sailed is an accurate total taken from the chartplotter (GPS) of how far we have gone but the distance to go is the shortest route from our current position. In the early part of the trip we were heading south to find the trade winds - Paul's banana analogy, we then had a further detour as we tried to find better winds. We are now wanting the head direct to St Lucia. However sailboats don't actually go very well with the wind directly behind them so for the past few days we have been zig zagging up and down our ideal route (265 degrees) as the wind was almost exactly from the east.
We had the Parasailor up for 48 hours from Monday to Wednesday morning, before we set off we were nervous about sailing with the Parasailor at night in case it needed to come down quickly, however given the relatively gentle winds this worry was soon forgotten.
However we decided to take it down and put the white sails up yesterday as the wind was really picking up. The best way to bring it down is to get it into its sock and then pass it down through the front hatch to a couple of crew in the forepeak. We never thought we would see Vicki crouched down in a hot forepeak battling with a large spinnaker in a boat being tossed around by a considerable Atlantic swell, the sea sickness really has been beaten.
Needless to say once we had changed all the sails the wind started dropping until we were bobbing along at less than 5kts yesterday afternoon. Parasailor back up demanded the skipper so a further round of rope and pole faffing had to be done. We then settled down to a beautiful, comfortable sail, the wind picked up and we were doing a good speed all night. We even managed a lovely controlled gybe at 04.00 in well over 20kts of wind. The Parasailor is a fantastic piece of kit and in the right winds gives a really, stable comfortable ride. It is just gorgeous to watch it dancing around the front of the boat illuminated by the moon and stars.
The wind has moved round to be east north east and started picking up so Parasailor came back down this morning. We are now back to mainsail, poled out genoa and little jib.
We are very close to 600 miles to go, so about 4 days if we average just over 6 knots, in the forecast winds this looks very realistic so we are hoping for landfall Monday afternoon, but this is very still dependent on good winds holding up.
Dolphins - the cry went up again this morning and Vicki, who now seems fearless, rushed up to lie splayed out in the bows trying to take video. We have a fantastic long movie of the empty Atlantic where a dolphin had just been - it is not easy.
We are usually treated to a wonderful display of flying fish in the morning, the sun is just right to reflect on their wings. It is beautiful to watch them skimming the waves for a fantastically long time. Occasionally we even see a "shock" of them flying together. (halfway between a flock and a shoal)
We are now almost out of fresh vegetables, the last cucumber went to a watery grave as it was past it's best. However we are still enjoying good meals but just out of tins now, apart from cabbage of course.
David
White Satin
PS - Sorry I never put the trademark White Satin ending to the blog
It therefore has to be
Forgetful Times
David
White Satin
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