Once the wind died, the seas became much less confused and flattened out so “Fred” was again put back in charge of helming the boat while we were able to catch up on a bit of R&R. The best bit is that Fred is happy to steer an accurate compass course all day long. The only problem of leaving him in charge when conditions are a bit rough is that.. Read More
We have given “Fred” (our autopilot) a rest from steering the boat over the past day or so while we traverse some rather fickle winds (frequent changes in strength and direction) and some squalls. To be able to handle the squalls easily, we have been sailing with 1 or 2 reefs in the mainsail and often the much smaller staysail in comparison to our monster genoa. This means that during.. Read More
We have given “Fred” (our autopilot) a rest from steering the boat over the past day or so while we traverse some rather fickle winds (frequent changes in strength and direction) and some squalls. To be able to handle the squalls easily, we have been sailing with 1 or 2 reefs in the mainsail and often the much smaller staysail in comparison to our monster genoa. This means that during.. Read More
Yesterday the winds died (as predicted by Chris P.) so it gave us an opportunity to do a bit of preventive maintenance and dry out some of the bedding and rugs in the bright sunshine while motoring. The wind filled in again overnight to a gentle 10-15 knots so we had a very pleasant sail overnight and made good progress south-east. A lot less creaks and groans from the boat.. Read More
Yesterday the winds died (as predicted by Chris P.) so it gave us an opportunity to do a bit of preventive maintenance and dry out some of the bedding and rugs in the bright sunshine while motoring. The wind filled in again overnight to a gentle 10-15 knots so we had a very pleasant sail overnight and made good progress south-east. A lot less creaks and groans from the boat.. Read More
I thought you would all like to know that so far, our freshly imported tea supply from the home country is holding up well. We’re still not half-way though, so things could change but at this stage, things are looking good in this department; maybe the fact that our crew is not such an avid tea-drinker as our previous crew members helps, though we are perhaps working on that (as.. Read More
I thought you would all like to know that so far, our freshly imported tea supply from the home country is holding up well. We’re still not half-way though, so things could change but at this stage, things are looking good in this department; maybe the fact that our crew is not such an avid tea-drinker as our previous crew members helps, though we are perhaps working on that (as.. Read More
We are progressing nicely, at least we think so but we don’t have the benefit of being able to see our position relative to the rest of the fleet. We are now on starboard tack and have been close to another (British) boat, Domini since the beginning. It’s nice to be able to communicate and compare strategies. Chris Parker has advised us to be SE of a line extending from.. Read More
We saw water temperatures above 82 degrees F in the Gulf Stream but today they have dropped to around 78 so it is clear we are well through the stream. There are, however, a few eddies around, one of which we unfortunately encountered last night, which slowed our progress by more than 1 knot. However, we are now enjoying bright skies, some sun and much better progress so spirits are.. Read More
We got off to a great start and made good speed towards our Gulf Stream entry point recommended by Chris Parker…. and even managed to pass a few boats along the way. Wind was around 15 knots on the beam; what more could we ask for? We wisely put one reef in the mainsail for our night time approach to the Gulf Stream just off Cape Hatteras as the wind.. Read More