Hi everyone,
We are currently in position 31 19S 14 26E and saillng at 6 knots on a course of 330M. The wind is S at 12-15 knots with a 1m sea and 2m SW swell. We are sailing under single-reefed main and single-furled yankee. There are scattered cumulus and cirrus clouds around. Our day's run was 143nm and we have 1436nm to run.
Yesterday afternoon the wind gradually increased until we put a reef in the main at 1600. Overnight tne wind got up into the low 20s and varied in direction between SSW and SSE. This morning it has been gradually moderating but we're holding our speed nicely and so haven't shaken out the reef yet.
For several hours before dawn we sailed through an area with a strong westerly current. It must have been at least 2 knots since our heading was 340M and our COG 300M. The seas were disturbed in the area which made the ride quite uncomfortable. We weren't entirely surprised by the current since it was shown fairly well on the RTOFS GRIB data we downloaded from SailDocs. Happily we're out of it now and if anything the current is with us, albeit nowhere near 2 knots.
The sked this morning had seven boats on the air. One of them is behind us which is always good - we hate being tail-end charlie! We asked about the evening sked and learned it has moved to 1700UTC. The evening session is intended more for chat, while the morning is for position reporting.
We will have limited access to world news until we reach the Caribbean. Before departing we subscribed to a BBC email news summary which arrives daily. Couldn't find a way to get Australian news via text-only email. We are also starting to listen to the BBC World Service on HF. They transmit some of their Africa programming from Ascension Island which is perfect for us. They are booming in from 1600-1700UTC on 17640kHz. Very civilised.
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