At noon today we are at 13 00N 048 33W sailing at 5 knots on a broad reach under single-reefed main and double-furled yankee. The wind is ENE 12G16. The seas are 1m with a long 2m N swell. The air temperature is 25C, water 28C and above is a clear blue sky. Our noon to noon daily run was only 101nm. We have 804nm to go - 129nm closer to Antigua today. How so?...
Ground Speed > Boat Speed => Positive Current!
In yesterday's post I described ocean current GRIBs and that it'd be nice to find some positive current. Well the GRIBs did help us find it. We've been in 1 knot of current. 28nm for free over the last 24 hours and smooth water too. The graph above clearly shows the difference between our boat speed and ground speed. Our daily runs are distance through the water, so reflect our boat speed not our ground speed.
Yesterday afternoon we shook out the second reef in the main as the wind dropped a little. We went back onto Kami the autopilot for a while. During the afternoon the clouds cleared and by 2000 we had an almost clear sky. It was a nice relaxing afternoon but our boat speed was low.
At dinner last night we opened a can of fruit for dessert and it was 'blown'. We opened another and it was too. Both got the deep six. They were purchased at a Carrefour supermarket in Tunisia only three months ago. Made in China. Very nasty poisons (botulism) can inhabit blown cans of food. Happily we have plenty more from various sources.
The SSB sked last night included Lady of Lorien, Tuuletar and Emma. We decided to slip the sked time from 2100UTC to 2200UTC from tomorrow. This will keep it in twilight for most of us, hopefully reducing noise on the channel.
The almost clear sky lasted all night giving us a moonless view of the stars. Spectacular. After midnight we had enough wind to put Kazi the WindPilot back on. At 0400 the moon rose. It's now a thin crescent laying on its back.
This morning we had a deck patrol. All well on deck and we consigned eight mostly small flying fish to the deep. Now we're having a great sail under a clear blue sky. At noon ship's time we'll move our clocks back an hour, putting us only one hour off Antigua time. It'll keep the SSB sked at the same ship's time too.
Gen the SailingGen hydro generator has been helping our battery state. Assisted by the crew de-weeding regularly. We've avoided having to run the engine for the last few days - just!
Trust all's well where you are.
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