Settling In
Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Mon 20 Jan 2014 13:52
Daily Run: 188 miles
I was mightily relieved last night that the parasail was not up. The wind dropped to 7 knots, which would have been insufficient to keep it filled with all associated consequences. I would probably have taken it down in the dark…The task does not bear thinking about. We are now in the trade wind area proper, where there is stability in wind strength (moderate to fresh breezes) and direction (N/E) and also in the sea motion. I am no longer being thrown about so much and feel at peace with the world. The twin foresail rig is doing a splendid job, but I must watch out that I don't go too far north, or else I end up in the horse latitudes or too far south, so that I hit the doldrums. Both these areas are a nightmare to the sailor. Provided I keep a close eye on the course steered, I can leave the twin foresails as they are for much of the way to Antigua.
Most days so far have been overcast with intermittent sun or rain. I took the opportunity this morning to take a sun sight whilst it appeared briefly. I shall try and take another this afternoon and plot my position. We have so far covered 610 miles out of the 2800-mile distance form Tenerife to Antigua.
The water maker takes 12 minutes to make 2 litres of fresh water and whilst the kit is quite power hungry, the towed generator is doing an excellent job keeping up with the power consumption. As soon as I can rely on the sun to stay out and provide power through the solar panels, I shall haul in the towed generator to give me an extra 0.5knot of speed.
The water temperature is around 19C and the ambient temperature around 25C.