Position                10:08.03 N 027:04.11 W

Date                     2359 (UTC) Wednesday 01 March 2017

Distance run          in 24hrs 151nm over the ground, 146nm through the water

Passage total         1,429nm over the ground, 1,360nm through the water

Distance to go       2,191nm

Planned distance    Ascension to the Azores west around the high 3,666nm

 

The daily run is gradually increasing day on day which is some compensation for the bouncing around being experienced.  This is our fourth day of using the autopilot steering at 45 degrees to the wind on a starboard tack and the system appears to be coping very well.  This is not quite close hauled but far enough off the wind so that as the boat moves with the waves to port and starboard we do not head up and lose the wind.  It is also remarkably consistent with the direction in which we wish to go.  At times we have been having hours of wind gusting to 25 to 26 knots and this does little to improve the motion of the boat.  The main salt water intake is on the starboard side and I think that when the going gets rougher we must be ingesting some air from the turbulence along the hull and this is upsetting the refrigerators.  Having changed over our freezer yesterday I had to reverse the procedure at 0500 as one started to warm up.  Having made the change the beasts appear to have settled down.  The side effect is that everything has been defrosted.  I believe that it is curry for dinner.  I will find out when I reheat mine after I finish writing this entry.