FANTASTIC CONDITIONS!!!!!
Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Thu 12 Jun 2008 16:15
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42:42.60N 38:27.40W
Noon-noon run (23 hours): 114 miles
The wind filled in at around 1500 yesterday...from
the all important direction of SSE. This indcated that at last we had got
to the east of the Low. For the remainder of the day and into the early night it
stayed in a southerly quadrant, force 2-3, giving us about 6kts. However,
the speed over the ground was usually only 5 kts, indicating we were in a back
eddy of the North Atlantic Drift. But who cares - we've got wind, and from
a cooperative direction!
Conditions held during the night, and right now we
are creaming along at 7kts on a beam reach in bright sunshine -
perfect. As dawn came up dolphins were dancing in the bow wave, the master
chef soon produced scrambled eggs and bacon to die for, and all is well in this
part of the Atlantic. And Sarah saw a whale - but nobody else did, despite
'all hand on deck'. But we do believe her! We all saw the turtle -
but we are a bit worried about him/her, as the sea temp. is down to 15.9C.
Shouldn't turtles be in warmer climes?
The daily business of keeping thing going
continues. During his forenoon watch, Tom noticed the the battery ampere
hours were falling, despite sailing at 7 kts. This time we knew where to
look, and it seems the fuze holder is not up to spec - it was melting, probably
because all the current produced by Gilbert has to pass throught the retaining
spring. So a more robust holder was substituted, and things are back to
normal in that department. Yesterday afternoon Ian spent 2 hours spring
cleaning the bilges - talk about above and beyond duty - and this morning they
are freee of diesel - maybe another success. Sarah did the same on the
cabine sole this morning, and we are now walking on less of a skating
rink. And the bread...check out the photos that will hopefully
follow.
That will do for now; the Mate is saying she will
follow this with a 'more feminine take' on
proceedings......
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