Tuesday 12 October 12:10pm

 

Following the previous rough night it was a relief to have a good sailing breeze for most of the last 24 hours - only a couple of hours in the night when it was too light to make much headway and the engine was deployed. The crew were able to catch up on sleep and it was very pleasant not to have to steer all the time.

 

The big news, apart from the loss of the skipper's hat in a sudden squall, is that we have agreed a change of plan and are now heading straight for Tenerife rather than pausing at Lanzarote. This will add a further 150ish Nm to the distance to cover and we should arrive there on Saturday. This was decided because of the forecast for very light winds, which will mean we have to motor, so the westerly component to the wind will matter less and gives us a better chance of arriving in time for Ted & Kay's planned return and Chris, Yvonne and Patrick's  arrival. Deciding now also means we can sail more to the West while the wind serves. The only issue is likely to be whether we have enough diesel - so fingers crossed!

 

Ted thinks we can use the tiller pilot, which normally adds compass steering to the wind vane, to steer the boat while motoring as we have not been able to fix the malfunctioning autohelm.  The plan seems to involve string and pulleys so I hope it works, as hand steering is a real pain.

 

The weather today is lovely, warm sunshine and a helpful 15Kts from the west. Long may it last!

 

Lunch soon.

 

KLW