At noon today we are at 16 47N 037 02W sailing at 5.5 knots on a broad reach under double-reefed main and triple-furled yankee. The wind is ENE 17G23. The seas are 2m with a long 1.5m N swell. The air temperature is 24C, water 26C and above are scattered Cu. Our noon to noon daily run was 124nm. We have 1420nm to go. We'll reach our route's half-way mark this afternoon!
The images below show today's weather and Christmas Day's. The winds are expected to lighten which will be nice. That'll allow us to have less 'hanging on' and more relaxing. We're hoping to suspend the watch system on Xmas Day so we can spend more time together.
This morning's weather for noon today
This monrning's weather for noon Christmas Day
We've had consistent winds for the last 24 hours, varying only a little in strength and direction. Its been a fairly fast ride with occasional surfing on waves. The WindPilot handles the surfs pretty well. We've remained on starboard tack heading roughly 280T. Magnetic variation here is about 14W, so the compass is showing 294M.
Yesterday afternoon we spoke with Australian yacht Paper Moon. We heard them talking with another yacht and called them after they finished. They're a 38' catamaran with crew from NSW. We exchanged contact details and hope to meet them somewhere in the Caribbean.
Last night's SSB sked included Lady of Lorien and Cerulean. We tried several different frequencies and reconfirmed 4MHz is still best for us at present. Lady of Lorien is now 425nm ahead of us, Cerulean and Ruffian are preparing to depart the Gambia, and Tuuletar SMSed us to say they were arriving in Barbados. FSC yacht ReVision II is now 280nm behind us.
Last night I heard a 'thud' followed by frantic movements. A flying fish had come aboard. His frantic movement happily took him back overboard. Lucky lad! Wonder what he made of it all.
Trust all's well where you are!
No comments:
Post a Comment