Although we managed to do some more sailing on Wednesday, we have been gently motor-sailing for about 46 hours now since Wednesday evening but doing a very respectable 6-7 and sometimes even 8 knots with clear skies, calm seas and a gentle cooling breeze. The wind speed since Wednesday has been mainly in the 3-7 it range, not ideal for sailing or reaching port sooner (see last paragraph). The 6-8 knots in boat speed is partly because we have spent much of the time in favorable Gulf Stream eddies, that have contributed about 1 to 1.5 knots to our overall SOG (speed over ground). Today we topped up the fuel tank using fuel from our 5 gal jerry cans (the last of our BVI fuel) and figure we are using not much more than 0.5 gal/hr, with a 110 hp engine at 1,800 to 2,000 rpm…. Amazing!
I had a great afternoon watch from 4:00 until 8:00 pm yesterday. Time flew by because for the majority of the time we were accompanied by a shearwater bird that initially kept circling the boat and landing in the water just ahead of us, then waiting for us to go past and coming back and doing it all over again. Then he became braver and finally landed on our solar panels. I will have to add a photo or two to the blog once we have better wi-fi. We have also been seeing what Jerry has explained are Portugese Man O’War. Initially, I thought I was seeing maybe a plastic bag in the water and was somewhat saddened. However, it turns out that I was really seeing the ‘sail’ of the jellyfish. I’m just glad we are not swimming anywhere close to them!
Our Gulf Stream entry waypoint is now only about 25 mm away so we expect to cross the GS tonight and make it into the Chesapeake hopefully as early as Saturday afternoon. We will then decide whether we will clear into the US in Little Creek, near the mouth of the Chesapeake or wait until we get to Baltimore. A lot depends on the weather. A tropical storm ‘Bonnie’ is in the forecast off the Carolina coast and it may impact us, hopefully not directly, late Sunday/Monday, as it moves NW.
3 Comments
Ruth and Nick
What a great experience with the shearwater bird – and in UK we are mesmerised by the pair of blue tits who have taken up residence in our nesting box to raise their family – safe passage into Chesapeake with adequate fuel, some wind, not too much, and further entertainments along the way – looking fwd to hearing you have arrived back in USA.
William & Karen
We’ve so enjoyed following your great progress. Sounds like a very happy ship.
We are hoping to take advantage of the settled weather here, and are currently planning to set off for a direct hop to Tobermory around 1pm tomorrow if the forecast remains favourable…
Michael Newth
Sounds very good but no mention of beer, or crabs! I wish that my 90 hp diesel would tick over at those consumption figures but that may just be my heavy right foot at work. Get a spinner over!
m