Our first crossing the Atlantic
The ODA diary
Erik L. Roede
Thu 21 Nov 2013 16:45
We have been 26 hours at sea and are now about 200 nm west of the Cape Verdes. We had a good start with winds around 30 knots and with 15 foot seas. Several boats struggled and we saw at least one shredded spinnaker and a broken spinnaker pole. Lots of broaching and high speeds. Last night the wind lightened up a bit, and now about 3.30 pm, we are cruising along at a comfortable 8 knots with just our assymetrical spinnaker (gennaker) up. The moon shone brightly last night and we should have moonlight a few more days.
We are divided into three shifts of two persons each, each pair on watch for three hours at at a time, and six hours off watch. With the high seas so far, sleep has not been very easy, but with small naps thoughout the day, we are able to keep up wtih necessesary sleep. Kathrine and Tobias are the main cooks on board and continue to turn out great lunches and dinners every day. We also produce our own fresh water from sea water with a Dessalator desalination machine, so we have plenty of water.
More froum us as we proceed across the Atlantic. Spirits are high on board and we are all enjoying the spectacular sea surrounding us.