"Running for the barn"...or home dock...end Day 5!
Wallace's Sailing Adventure on "Arbella"
Mike and Vicki Wallace
Sun 31 May 2015 17:37
31:15.9N 72:22.5W The crew is getting "itchy"….yes, we are "running for the barn"….with 5 1/2 days behind us and 3 days left…we look forward to getting to our "home dock" in Annapolis! And, fortunately, we are reasonably confident that we can get there without stopping for fuel….but, for Alex, Nate, Issy, Sarah, Jonathan, and for Mr. Webb's class….please help us confirm this with updated fuel calculations…can we make it? We have 540 liters of fuel, we know we will have "wind on the nose" when we go up the Bay, so we will need to motor at higher speeds and press hard into the wind, burning more fuel. Right now we are burning 6.3 liters per hour; but we will be burning more like 10-11 liters per hour in the Bay. We also may need to burn more fuel as we cross the Gulf Stream which will be a bit turbulent. So, best guess overall, we expect to burn an average of 7.5 liters per hour from here to Annapolis….but we could average 8.0 liters per hour. We have about 380 miles to go! If we stop for fuel, we will loose about 4-5 hours, since we need to deviate from our course to do so…..but we REALLY want to get to the dock as quickly as we can. What would you do? So today was an average GREAT DAY at sea….decent wind, steady seas, clear sky, all sails up! The pictures show a happy "Puller" at the helm, "Arbella" from several angles topside on this nice day, and the Captain caught working three computers (yes, doing quite a bit of actual work, but he enjoys doing it!!)….but the Captain also was topside for some very relaxing periods!! When you get to this point in a passage, you forget all the "tough moments" (yes we had plenty….all the pictures for 5 days only capture the best moments!) and you start making memories of the "good moments…the awesome moments…the sunrises, sunsets, full moon, star-lit sky, dolphins, lightening, full sail with no noise, etc."!! Captain Mike.
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