SKIPPER'S UPDATE

Adventure_iceland
Thu 7 Aug 2008 00:39
We dropped the spinnaker around 1800 hrs and after a night of motor sailing last evening I stopped the engine at 1100 hrs today and we have been sailing under No 1 Yankee, staysail and full main sail since then.  The engine checks were performed by Mother Watch, the bilges were pumped dry, routine maintenance completed and domestic chores finished off - and we made some great bread!  After hours of using the engine the quietness can seem deafening!  But how sweet it is to my ears.  And to have the space and flat seas at this latitude to hone our sail trimming is a real treat. 
 
We are ghosting along at 5 to 6 knots on a broad reach in 12 knots of True wind from the SE on flat seas with no tide to be concerned with.  We are waiting patiently for the breeze to back and fill in from the NE and then strengthen as the depression moves up from the lower latitudes to hopefully pass to the south of us and provide a reaching wind to see us past Cape Farewell.
 
Position: 57,42.49N; 034,38.55W
Speed: 5 knots, Course: 307 deg.
Weather: overcast and dry (mostly) but chilly.
Wind: SE F3.
Magnetic Variation 20 deg West.
     
 
Richard