29th January 2016: off Mauritania
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Fri 29 Jan 2016 15:36
Another bumpy night saw the wind picking up to a steady force 6 gusting to a 7 at times. Combined with large waves this made life far harder for the Hydrovane steering system, however we are pleased that it only needed help roughly once an hour to bring us back on course. The seas are correspondingly bigger with the the increased wind, and steeper; neither of us was expecting the short wavelength of these waters. Fiona was tipped out of her warm nest this morning and rolled across the aft cabin in time to take a wave through the open skylight on to the back of the head. At least that kept it off the bedclothes.
The ocean passages tome states that in average the trade winds at this time of year normally run a force 3-4 from the North East. They got the north east bit correct however the very high pressure around the Azores means that the wind speeds are much higher at present. Paradoxically we are not going nearly as fast as we would in lighter winds as the self-steering won't cope with more sail, but nonetheless we are making 7 knots under the jib alone.
Something we have both noticed along with the very steep seas is the absence of any mammalian or bird life. On other trips we have at least had the odd fulmar to share the space with; even these seem to have gone elsewhere at present. We've also given up on the fishing, since the towed generator out the back of the boat would get tangled with a fishing line. Strangely it's whirring noise is slightly soporific.
Happy Birthday Mrs Christina MacMillan. Can't believe you are ... years old today. Hope your lovely family spoil you for the day.
Cooking on board is becoming less experimental and more tin opening to match the bouncy conditions. 335 Miles to go.