The Atlantic ocean ( the story so far )

Cafeseerose
Sat 21 Nov 2009 15:32
 Position 26.13.n   17.26 w
Time 15.15
Weather hot and sunny
Wind 15 kts from the nrth
Boat speed 5.6 kts
Sails goose winged
 
Last 24 hours distance 120 miles
 
Last night was a bit light on wind and after 10 hours of motor sailing all day we decided to sacrifice some speed for some peace and quite for the night time.
Out went the genoa and on came the hydrovane ghosting along in the dark with just the swoosh of the waves.
Mark ( me) did 1st watch 9-12 minight.Then greg 12- 3 am, then mike 3-6 am Jan was due to do the 6-9 am watch but Mike forget and woke me up by accident doh.
 
It was none the less a very comfy 1st night .
We poled out the genoa and attached the pole up haul  then cruised at between 3.5-- 5 kts all night.
 
So far its been very easy i must say with everybody relaxing in to the passage.
Our 1st waypointis 20 N by 25 W the famous turning point for transatlantic sailors or more comonly known as "where the butter melts "Here we will turn west and hopefully be in the trade winds.
Although this is not set in stone i have heard the further south you go the better the trade winds are.
 
The sun sets around 6 pm and rises around 6 am so we have 12 hours of daylight not much it seams.
At our current speed we would estimate a passage of 24 days but we are hoping for stronger winds once we hit the trades.
 
Lunch today was baked dorado with a little chille ,garlic and rice and some salad with baked bread.
I managed 45 mins of excersising with loose weights and propose to do a little more after this update.
 
Love to all
 
Take care
 
Mark ,Jan,Greg and mike