We are currently in position 33 59N 012 56W sailing under single-reefed main and single-furled yankee. We're doing about 5.5 knots in a 11G15 NE wind and a 1m sea. It's sunny and a little less cool than yesterday. Air temperature is 18C and water temperature 23C. Our third 24 hour run was 137nm and we currently have 180nm to go - less than a Geraldton!
First Flying Fish of the year
Yesterday afternoon the wind held in at around 15G20 from the NE. Later in the day it backed NNE allowing us to make a few extra miles south. Overnight the wind veered into the ENE and we lost them again. In the small hours the wind decreased to 10G15 which slowed us down a little.
We had a pleasant night with very little traffic - only two vessels all night. Matusadona and ReVisionII are now each 40+nm behind us, but who's racing? A highlight of the night was finding our first flying fish aboard. Unfortunately we found it too late to save it. No doubt it will be the first of many as we head towards tropical waters.
Before dawn this morning we ran the engine for a while to charge. We've often had to do this to top-up the solar charging. Before leaving the UK we bought a SailingGen hydro-generator. Since then we've constructed a mount for it on the transom which keeps it clear of the WindPilot leg. This morning was the 'big day' when we tried it out. The battery was at 75% and our boat speed moderate - good initial trial conditions. The SailingGen is delivering 2-4 Amps with a boat speed of 5 knots. The unit whines not unlike wind in the rigging, varying with its RPM. With low battery level and 6 knots boat speed the SailingGen should deliver over 10 Amps.
Trust all's well where you are.
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