20:38.824N 27:22.768W

Knotoncall
Sat 25 Nov 2017 20:36
20:38.824N 27:22.768W
 

Knot on Call Blog 24 25th November

Less than 2000 miles to go!! 750 miles sailed in 6 days, we were hoping for 900, the trade winds have not developed and we are beating into the wind so its a good bit slower. Well that's sailing. Some good news today in the form of a positive weather forecast until Tuesday, well with a possible half day of motoring on Sunday with favorable winds for the rest of the time

We got through yesterdays interesting weather, we had tried to keep below the strongest winds coming from the huge depression to the north of us but mid day yesterday the low pressure dropped down half a degree and it smacked us on the nose. Some big monsoon like squalls came through and we could watch them coming on the radar. Just before hitting us the wind strength dropped to around 10 knots, quickly veering to the north by 30 degrees and the wind increasing rapidly to over 30 knots. The monsoon like rain completely flattened the 3 meter high waves and reached parts of the body that even Carlsberg can't get to.

Saturday is another day, the sun is shining, the sea is blue and we are generally able to sail south west or more or less where we want to go to. Our major cause for concern is that we have a dozen plus bananas rapidly going past their eat by date and nobody has the recipe for Banoffi Pie - emails please to knotoncall {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com !! The last of the fresh milk has gone sour  and John is attempting to make Atlantic Cottage Cheese by adding lemon juice - its setting well, we shall see - any takers? Food is still superb with a la carte options today of porridge, mulligatawny soup and chicken and butternut squash casserole followed by pears and apples.

We were gratified to see our position in today's position report of all vessels based on distance left to final destination. We are now 8th out of 17 in Class A Division 1 for yachts over 50 feet long and 19th out of 127 in the overall cruiser class so we do seem to have made up ground after shredding our G2 Genekar on day 1. This will all probably be reversed when the handicaps are applied and we will definitely slip down the list. For now at least we are moving forwards through the fleet. There have been a couple of retirements, notably Rapido, a huge tri marine who broke its mast, with a dozen or so boats returning to last Palmas or diverting to Cap Verdi for repairs to rigs and refueling. Its notable that as we progress there are fewer nearby boats. The first cluster of 30 headed south split into two and then we maintained contact with half a dozen and now we are completely on our own and out of AIS range of any other boats.

All for now.

 

Squall Ahoy!
Home made potato cakes
Sometimes this sailing is just pants - Whitby YC pennants?
Ships in the night
 

 

 


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