Canaries Outbound Day 4

Hi everyone,
At noon today we are at 23 05N 022 29W sailing at 3 to 4 knots on a broad reach under full main and single-furled yankee. The wind is NE 6G10. The seas are slight with a long 1m swell. The air temperature is 21C, water 23C and we have broken Cu clouds above with a slight haze. Our noon to noon daily run was 109nm. We have 2369nm to go. Slow going today with less wind than predicted.

Yesterday afternoon the wind gradually decreased, reaching about 10 knots by 0300 this morning. We shook out the last reef in the main at that point to keep our speed over 5 knots. Zen Again doesn't need much wind to keep here moving, but a broad reach isn't ideal. By dawn our speed was down to about 4 knots in 8 knots of wind.

Until last night the WindPilot had been steering the boat. With the lighter winds we switched to the autopilot in Wind mode (which keeps the apparent wind constant). As the winds lightened further we changed to Compass mode (which simply steers a course).

At 5 knots boatspeed the SailnSea SailingGen hydrogenerator keeps up with our power usage. At lower boatspeed we need the solar power to keep the batteries full. It's been a real bonus to keepi our batteries full without running the engine. Won't last in these light winds.

Last night we had a good SSB sked. We spoke with Rambler, Lady of Lorien and Tuuletar. The boats spanned a range of 1400nm from the Gambia River to 38 degrees W.

Last night we saw a few shooting stars despite a very bright waxing gibbous moon. And there were a few big clumps of bioluminescence flaring up in our wake. This morning we were visited by a family group of porpoises or possibly pilot whales. The adults were pretty big, appearing especially so when they leapt clear of the water close by.

Trust all's well where you are!