Wind and fuel and calculations!....end Day 3!
Wallace's Sailing Adventure on "Arbella"
Mike and Vicki Wallace
Fri 29 May 2015 19:14
26:48.3 N 69:50.4 W Today was a day of some intense squalls, although always short lived…giving us winds at up to 25 knots. And that was then followed by light winds at 10 knots, and later in the day, steady good winds at 17 knots giving us a boat speed of about 7.5 knots! So we "banked miles" whenever we saw that we were sailing at a speed of greater than 6.3 knots. From yesterday's blog, and the several calculations that the Captain ran, we settled on running the engine at 1800 RPM, burning 6.3 liters of fuel per hour, to produce AT LEAST 6.3 knots as our "base"….this would assure that we can make it to the entrance of the Bay and then refuel at Little Creek. If we get extra winds, and make extra miles, like we did today, then we may be able to make it the 125 miles "up the Bay" to Annapolis without refueling. However, Commander's predicts 15 knot winds "on the nose" coming up the Bay, so adequate fuel will be a special concern! Pictured below is just one of the times we had some decent wind and 1st Mate, Paul, was adjusting sails for optimum performance. Today, "Puller" made water for the first time, lighting off the generator for that and charging the batteries….when we did that we also ran air conditioners to give some relief to the otherwise hot and humid conditions below decks! All in all….a good Day 3 in the rear view mirror!!
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