Wednesday 17th February
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Wed 17 Feb 2016 18:32
The trade winds keep up and it's still F4 from the NE so progress is good. We actually had 3 spots of rain this afternoon as cloud is buildingso maybe a shower - which would be welcome - but hopefully not a thunderstorm.
The small islets of Sao Pedro and Sao Paulo are about 140 miles away to the WSW but we intend to pass them well to the east. By chance I noticed that HMS Beagle hove-to off them on February 16th, so 184 years ago yesterday. They then went on to Salvador just as we intend, arriving on the 29th of Feb (so it was a leap year for them as well).
The Beagle stuff is relevant as we've been pondering the best course given the doldrums and the destination. Modern yacht pilots say that one's got a dilemma of crossing at 25° W or even a bit further east where the doldrums are widest but the subsequent SE trades will be more favourable or crossing at around 28° W where the doldrums are less but one would then be closer to a tack for the journey S. It recommends crossing to the east of 25° and motoring for up to 250 miles. However the Admiralty Sailing directions for the World, 1973 edition which we also have aboard (1973 because it was the last edition to include the old sailing vessel routes) goes into it more thoroughly. It says that between December and March one should be further to the west and cross up to 31° W because the SE trades will be more from the east and less from the S than at other times of year. We're at 27° and will see only in hindsight if it's wisdom or foolishness to be well W of other yachts but not quite as far as for instance, the Beagle.
We ran the watermaker for about 2½ hours as the port tank was getting low after all that rope washing yesterday and it's now nicely topped up. We also had another go at plugging the deck leaks around the bolts holding the genoa track down, James placing some waterproof tape on the nuts and bolts from below while the able seaman held them still above decks to be able to tighten them; but it hasn't been tested yet. We are still waiting for some calm before re-plumbing the generator fuel hoses.
The ships cook is also hoping for calmer seas in order to make a summer pudding. At present we have a bit too much swell to be able to cope with fruit juice flying about the cabin. A word on our food here - we had to decide in La Palma what we were going to take for the Atlantic crossing in terms of dried foods and tins, snacks etc although we bought fresh in Cape Verde and topped up stores. This all had to be planned around having enough stores should the fridge be unable to cope (it's just about managing at present with the heat). So we have had salad for lunch for the last week and cabbage and coleslaw is coming our way next week. We also went nearly vegetarian and have no meat either in the fridge or in tins apart from some chorizo. in fact we have not bought any meat since Mylor butchers. This is no hardship as we have plenty of tinned fish, sardines, mackerel, pilchards tuna and anchovies to top up the otherwise vegetarian diet. Dried beans pasta and rice form the rest of the staples along with the bread flour from the water mill at Lode (Anglesea Abbey, which is in Cambridgeshire not Wales). We've enough beer for James to have his can a day and enough wine for Fiona's spritzer in the evening. No nipping to the corner shop if we run out, it's a bit far to go and the quartermaster will not increase the daily ration until we get much closer to our destination.
Fiona is dreaming of ice in the evening drink. Current temperature in the cabin is 32 centigrade.