Hawkeye - ARC Blog – Day 5 – Thanksgiving and fishing

The light winds continue for most of the ARC fleet, so Hawkeye has been engaged in a mixture of motoring in smooth, glassy seas and a cat-and-mouse game of chasing ever-changing fickle light winds.

We keep trying all types of sail combinations, but always with the same outcome - which is painfully slow progress.

Our favourite rig is sailing dead downwind with twin Genoas, for which Hawkeye is very well prepared, something we've learnt from previous Atlantic crossings.

The rare times we see more than 10 knots of wind is cause for celebration, as we can then hit the dizzy heights of speeds of 3 to 4 knots. Still 2,300 miles to go to St Lucia though, which is a loooooong way at that speed!

Of course Hawkeye carries enough fuel to motor almost all the way if we had to, but we shouldn't need to, as the trade winds must surely kick in soon.

Much excitement this afternoon - Peter put the fishing gear out and within a few hours his efforts were rewarded with al Mahi Mahi and a Dorado, which we’ll enjoy tomorrow.

Just after the sun had set, whilst on her watch, Lizzie spotted a large fin whale nearby so we stopped for a spot of whale watching.

With zero wind and long, low undulating Atlantic swells coming from a storm perhaps many thousands of miles away, combined with the dying embers of twilight and such a magnificent creature swimming serenely around made it a magical moment for all of us on board.

We also had a useful chat on the VHF to another ARC catamaran, Blue Tatoo, that we could see on the horizon; their thoughts on the lack of wind echoed ours, and it seems most of the fleet is picking between motoring and slow sailing.

Today is Thanksgiving so to celebrate Alexandra and Lizzie made some superb Indian headdresses to accompany our steak dinner.

Let's hope for more wind!

Cheers

Team Hawkeye