Bolero - Day 9

Day 9

The mainsail had been unreefed before the night watches began with the view that the Genoa could be furled if the wind increased. As it turned out, the Genoa was furled to the first mark before the end of the first night watch as the wind had increased to 20 knots.

There were a few localised clouds overnight causing a slight increase in wind, though not significant enough to call a squall. The sea conditions made for an uncomfortable night on deck and below.

As the new day dawned, the Genoa was unfurled and Bolero was better balanced in the sea conditions. A VHF call and discussion with North Star indicated that their weather router advocates a gybe later in the afternoon and a final gybe when it is possible to lay Grenada. As the day progressed it was decided that another gybe today would be unnecessary.

Drum roll distance at 10:00 hrs mid Atlantic Adventure time was 845 miles to the way point.

Over a cream tea in the cockpit, we all decided that we were thoroughly enjoying the passage and that the challenges of managing life at an angle on an unsteady platform with very disturbed sleep did not detract from our enjoyment.

Falcon has reappeared on the AIS, so together with North Star we are all following the same passage plan. We have swapped emails with Falcon on the passage and it’s lovely to know that they too are rising above the challenges of this Atlantic passage.

Just before we ate, we noticed that the halyard had caught around the top of the shrouds on the mast. This will have been the result of the reefed main jerking in the sea conditions. We lowered the mainsail a short distance and released the halyard. During the adjustment we noticed a small chaffed area to the mainsail and that the mainsail sliders had come out of the headboard again. These repairs would have to wait until the morning. We put one reef in the mainsail.

The rocking and rolling meant that the jarred meals that we had prepared would come into their own. Gwyn popped a jar of tomato and coconut curry that she had made in Las Palmas and made a Dahl to go with the rice. A delicious dinner.

The night watches began at 19:00hrs.

Fair winds
Nick, Maz,
Ian and Gwyn