No wind....
Chiscos - Atlantic Cruise
John Simpson
Tue 8 May 2012 09:29
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24:39.059n 064:56.097w
We are making good progress towards Bermuda but this is
likely to end soon as we will run out of fuel! There
is absolutely no wind here and we have been motoring for about 45 hours. Our
teeth are chattering in time to the engine and we are desperate for some wind so
that we can start to sail.
We have about 465 miles to go to Bermuda, enough fuel
for about another 24 hours motoring, but we will need to keep most of this in
reserve just in case we get near to the island and we are forced to motor clear
again. The weather prospects look average! (at best!) It looks like it will be
calm again today but hopefully some wind may come up tonight or tomorrow.
On the radio net this morning we heard that some
boats have already stopped motoring because of a lack of fuel - and will just
have to stop and wait for the wind.
Fortunately Chiscos runs well under engine and despite a
problem with a leak on the cooling header tank cap, we are in reasonable
shape.
The crew are in fine form and we have all settled into a
routine of 4 hour watches during the day and 3 hours in the night. It does make
for a short, rather interrupted night (!) but is manageable and considerably
better than sailing with just two up.
We have fished a fair bit, but we are missing Regis, our
master fisherman from the Atlantic. There is also a lot of weed in the water and
large lumps of it keep getting caught in the line - which makes the fishing
difficult.
There is not much out here! We saw a small pod of
dolphins yesterday and on Sunday we saw some whales. There are lots of
flying fish which are easier to spot when the sea is very calm. A bird tried to
land on the boat this morning. It was a white bird with a very long tail, about
the size of a pigeon. Does my resident ornithologist (Jean) know what it
was?
Let's hope for some wind
John
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