Had a pretty gentle sail with slowly reducing wind overnight and were becalmed this morning in an area of high pressure.  The batteries needed charging so we've run under engine for a couple of hours to do this, and also get some forward progress - with a wish that moving may bring us to an area with a bit more wind. Although in life you have to be careful what you wish for.

 

It's always difficult to know whether to burn diesel and motor when there is not enough wind to make progress under sail, in order to get back to work on time at the end of the trip, or to conserve diesel in case it is needed for unforseen circumstances.  Last year on the way across Neil and I were frugal with the diesel and had a lot in reserve.  When we ran into difficulty with the mast under threat we had enough diesel to motor whenever higher winds appeared (higher winds were then putting a strain on the mast risking bringing it down). This was probably what got us out of bad trouble then.  So, I think prudence is probably best. 

 

The other thing that got us out of trouble then was getting up one morning when we were prepping the boat in Scotland and finding that someone had dumped some empty heavy duty plastic jerrycans next to the skip in Creran Marine.  There was space for more cans on deck so we cleaned these up and filled them with diesel.  This ended up giving us 24 hours of motoring that we would not have had - and in the event we used it all. Funny the things life can throw your way. 

 

47:43.55N 34:50.82W