Last night, we had some exciting sailing as we meandered between some sporadic squalls and their lightning displays. The rain was greatly welcomed as it pressure washed salt off the boat. This morning, we have found ourselves becalmed and have put the engine on to power through. Analysis shows that most of the fleet has no wind today and we believe that over 50% of the fleet are motoring like ourselves. We expect the extended becalming to last a few days, maybe even as far as St Lucia, especially to our NW.
With our alternator broken, we need to motor for best economy rather than best speed because of the added fuel consumption required to run the generator to charge the batteries rather than using the engine to do this. Captain has been working out how far our remaining 625l of diesel can get us based on different motoring speeds. The advantage of running the generator is that it produces ample power so we can run the air conditioning - it’s getting pretty hot.
A benefit of this warmer weather is that Captain has been able to use his deck rain shower for the first time since leaving Greece this Summer.
Our daughter is determined that she’ll land her first fish before we make landfall. She reeled one in to within sight yesterday before mistakenly letting off the pressure and it unfortunately got away. Lesson learned.
Someone wrote in to ask what we eat onboard during our ocean passage. Well, so far today, we’ve had freshly baked bread and cold cuts for breakfast. We spotted dolphins frolicking on our bow as we ate. Then for lunch, I made ceviche from the Mahi Mahi that we caught earlier in the week. Tonight we will have yellow fin tuna (more on this tomorrow!) I keep a food planner to ensure that we minimise wastage by using up leftovers, make use of soon to expire dry foods tucked away out of sight, and keep the family happy by ensuring we have a variety of frozen foods defrosted in time to eat during the week.
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