En route to Galapagos
Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Sat 11 Feb 2012 00:46
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05:08.2N 080:39.8W
Thursday was a fine day with a gentle breeze to see
us off from Las Perlas. This time we managed to time our start better,
unfurling the new red Parasailor just before crossing the line, in with the
first few boats out of the bay. It was the first time we
had opened the new sail, but fortunately everything was joined together correctly and it is flying just as well as the broken
one did.
The light winds we are expecting for this leg
mean that Anastasia will struggle to keep pace with the racing monohulls,
but all being well we should arrive in Galapagos in the main body of
the fleet. A lot will depend on how much fuel we want to burn as we pass
through the Doldrums because we are not going to spend days waiting for wind
like the old boats had to. The ARC penalty system adds between 1 and
2 hours to your time per hour of motoring, so that suggests if our sailing speed
gets below about 4 knots then it makes sense to turn the engines on. Our
most efficient cruising speed under engine is about 7 knots, burning about
7 litres per hour. We are carrying about 560 litres of fuel right now,
giving us a maximum range of about 560 miles. We have 640 miles left to go
so we can motor for much of the way, if necessary.
Andrea has provided this picture of the new sail so
you can admire the colour.
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