At noon today we are at 11 31N 044 30W sailing at 5.5 knots on a broad reach under single-reefed main and single-furled yankee. The wind is ENE 11G15. The seas are 1m with a 2m NE swell. The air temperature is 26C, water 28C and above is a clear but hazy sky. Our noon to noon daily run was 112nm. We have 1057nm to go.
Dawn Astern - Westward Ho!
Yesterday afternoon we had salt water showers despite the lumpy sea conditions. Care required getting buckets of water aboard at speed. This time we rinsed off with our manually-pressurised 10 litre spray can. It lives in a cockpit locker ready for use. It can be refilled from a 20 litre jerry can nearby. Given our good water situation we can wash every two days instead of three. By day three we're getting whiffy in the tropical heat!
By mid-afternoon our batteries were low due to the weed stopping use of Gen the SailingGen. We ran the engine for a couple of hours. We checked fuel level in the main tanks and they're over half full, meaning we've used less than a quarter of our total fuel capacity.
Around sunset a pair of tropic birds were circling above us. They certainly make a noise when in company. We also see smallish black birds which fly around very close to the water - Petrels perhaps. In calm conditions we can hear them chatting too.
The SSB sked was run by Lady of Lorien and included Emma, Tuuletar and us. Lady of Lorien was about 460nm ahead of us, Emma 550nm ahead and Tuuletar 950nm in Barbados. Meanwhile we track ReVision II on the PredictWind GPS Tracker and they're about 350nm behind us.
At 0400UTC last night (0200 local) we gybed to the WNW. At last our big zig to the south was over and we could head directly towards Antigua. Within an hour a rain shower passed overhead with 25 knot winds and then left us becalmed in its wake. We motored for an hour to find wind. By dawn this morning we were saiing nicely in a NE 10G15 breeze and the rain clouds were clearing away.
Pizza!
Right now Nicki is baking a new gingerbread cake for New Year. The previous one was so good a repeat was deemed necessary for crew morale. And inspired by Lady of Lorien's Christmas Pizza Nicki baked us a pizza for lunch yesterday. Twas awesome. Meanwhile stocks of our Christmas Cake dwindle in a strictly controlled manner!
This morning we found half a dozen flying fish on deck and a small shrimp - all were consigned to the deep with appropriate ceremony. We also found we'd sailed out of the worst of the Sargasso Weed. So Gen is now back in operation. With solar panel input too the battery level will probably be topped up by the end of the day.
Good times. We should reach the 1000nm to go mark later today - another 'milestone'!
Trust all's well where you are.
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