At noon today we are at 12 10N 046 30W sailing at 4.5 knots on a broad reach under double-reefed main and single-furled yankee. The wind is ENE 12G16. The seas are 1m with a long 2.5m NNE swell. The air temperature is 26C, water 28C and above is a hazy sky with scattered cumulus clouds. Our noon to noon daily run was 106nm. We have 933nm to go.
Ocean Surface Current GRIB
Yesterday afternoon we had a very nice sail in bright sunshine in a ENE 12G17 breeze. We came upon an abandoned wooden vesssel, about 15m in length. She looked African in style. She was rolling heavily in the swell so as we passed we could see deep into her open hull. There was no sign of anyone or anything aboard. She had an outboard motor on her stern. Scary to think about running into a heavy unlit vessel like her at night, and her possible use in people smuggling.
We made a All Ships Securite call on the VHF to report her as a hazard to navigation. We also sent full details to RCC Australia (the Maritime Regional Coordination Centre in Canberra). They forwarded our message to the NavAreaIV Coordinator. Note - the world's oceans are divided into navigation areas, and we're currently in area IV.
We had a good sailing breeze overnight and were averaging well over 5 knots. We were using the autopilot since the weather helm was making it difficult for the WindPilot. At 0300 we decided to balance the rig so as to use the WindPilot. We put a second reef in the main and unrolled a furl in the yankee. The WindPilot was then comfortable steering, although it cost us a little speed.
Sadly we're back into weed territory. We both spent a lot of time freeing Gen of weed to keep her Amps flowing to the batteries. This morning the batteries are in pretty good shape.
The image above shows a GRIB file of the ocean surface currents along our path towards Antigua. We're currently a little way in from the bottom right. Even a 0.5 knot current in our favour over a week gives us 84nm for free, or saves us about 17 hours at 5 knots average. So it's worth getting into positive current and avoiding adverse current. Avoiding 'wind over tide' or wind against current also keeps us out of nasty sea states which is equally, perhaps even more, important.
For lunch today we celebrated our 1000nm to go milestone with bacon and HP sauce tortillas. Yum!
Trust all's well where you are.
No comments:
Post a Comment