Panama Outbound Day 6

 Hi everyone,

At noon today we were at 01 05N 084 51W steering 235M, sailing under full main and yankee at 4.5 knots.  The wind was 6G10 from the S.  Our noon to noon distance by the log was 100nm.

Light wind sailing

Yesterday afternoon we motored onward.  The skies cleared and the sun came out.  We transferred 80 litres of diesel from jerries into the main tank.  This filled the tank and confirmed we're burning diesel at a rate of 1.75 litres/hour.  That's what we've measured before and it's good to know it's unchanged.

By late evening the winds and seas had really calmed.  That improved the ride (less pitching) and our speed.  The stars were out until midnight when high cloud started to move in.  Then at 0300 the predicted new S breeze came in.  We unfurled the yankee and killed the motor.  We've been sailing since.  Soooo much nicer!

This morning the wind held in and actually backed to the SSE, allowing us to get a little further south.  Although we were steering 235 we were tracking 255 due to a strong NE current.  The current is supposed to swing around to the W tomorrow - that'd be nice.  The screenshot from our instruments shows ground wind of 4G7, apparent wind of 6G9 and boat speed of 3.9 knots - not bad!  And a 1.2knot currrent.

Light Wind, Fast Boat, Cross-Current

But the most important event today was Nic baking Hot Cross Buns.

Hot bun and cold juice

Happy Easter everyone!