16:16.753N 30:12.295W

Knotoncall
Mon 27 Nov 2017 21:38
16:16.753N 30:12.295W
 Knot on Call blog 26/27th November - "From somewhere to somewhere, the view is the same"
 
We haven't seen a boat on our computer screen now for at least two to three days, we know they are out there somewhere and the spread from the mid day position report shows boats as much as 300 miles away.  After 30 hours of strategic motoring through the 200 mile wide belt of no wind we came out right on time at 6:00 am today and found our first trade winds running ENE at a gentle 8-10 knots.
Great Circle route to St Lucia
The one that got away (again!)
Sunday Dinner nearly ready
All Replete
Pears doing well in the shower
That was the good news but the down side of this wind direction, which is likely to prevail for the rest of the passage is that we need the G2 Genekar to push us along at 10 Knots plus. Unfortunately that was the sail that was shredded on day 1. With an asymmetric rig we have no spinnaker poles. Try as we might to set up a goose wing with the boom as a pole and the jib and Code 0 genekar set on opposing sides it still needs further thought. Work in progress for tomorrow and when the stronger winds blow through.
 
Finally settling on a standard configuration rig of main and gib sailing downwind at a wind angle of approx 155 and a COG of 225, the ARC 2017 Sweepstakes is on. Triff (hand steering) boldly took on the autohelm, otherwise known as "Vera the Steerer" and was the first in the saddle. Sailing at 6-7 knots he made a VMG of 4.8 knots, in other words 4.8 miles per hour going in the direction of where we want go as opposed to where we are able to sail. Graham responded riding his mount "Pin Ball Wizard" using only flippers, flappers and push buttons in support of Vera. Vera also achieved a an unimpressive 4.8 knots but was assisted by an additional wind strength of +2-3 knots. The 3rd umpire decided that because the wind varied by more than 10% the results were not a valid comparison and as a face saving device it was decided to declare the race null and void! The overriding conclusion is that it is a bloody long way left to run at that VMG - we were hoping to see 6-7 knots plus.
 
At lunch time we had moved a little further up the fleet but now expect the cavalry to come pouring over the horizon spinnakers aloft. Spare a thought for the fast racing fleet who are not allowed to do any motoring. They are all well behind us and having battled through the extreme wind and waves up north, have now entered the large windless area in the mid Atlantic and by Wednesday may be hit by another  depression bringing stronger winds than the previous one. This long distance sailing malarkey is all about good wind and weather forecasting and manouvering the boat into a position to take advantage of the winds whilst keeping one eye on where you are actually trying to get to. Our weather forecaster gave us a longer term waypoint this morning that is 600 miles away and said go south with as much west you can and as quickly as you can to escape the lowest limb of the next depression. Next gybe in 170 miles!! This is definitely an endurance event and unfortunately without the G2 we are unlikely to have a sprint finish.
 
We saw several interesting spumes of water sprayed by something passing the boat in the opposite direction - was it a Whale? Pasta bake for tea, seemed we didn't pack the Lasagne sheets and the pineapples have started fermenting so we will eat what's left of them. The bananas were turned into delicious flapjack and the rest of them will be Pancake mix. Still quite a lot of fruit and veg and the meat is good for another 6 days and then we will be turning to the can opener for dinner. Last night being Sunday, we had roast pork, roast potato and squash, leaks, carrots and gravy - very nice.
 
All for now - John
 
 
 
 

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