Day 9

Oyster Moon
Paul Foskett & Rhu Nash
Mon 5 Dec 2011 12:14
Position 17 22.60N 043 59.17W

Day 9 on the 5th December 2011

>From 12.00 UTC on the 4th, to Noon on the 5th December, distance travelled Noon to noon run was 147 miles (log 9710)

Distance to go to just south of the island is 1,019 miles.

24 hour sailing report

The wind has maintained a speed from 10 to 18 knots and but the direction has changed from 100 to 144 degrees. This has made the sailing slow and we have been changing direction all the time.

We sailed with the night with the genoa and main fully out, but the boat speed was very low only 5 to 5.5 knots all yesterday and during the night, hence the low distance travelled over the last 24 hours.

The good news was that we have now passed the halfway point of 1050 miles. We did this at 07.07 UTC this morning the 5th December 2011.

We have just launched the Parasailor and our boat speed has now increased to between 8 and 8.5 knots. We will try to keep it up during the day but will take it down at night.

No rain over the last 24 hours. However we have had rain squalls pass about 4 to 5 miles to the North of us yet again. What a lucky break as when a squall passes by, the wind direction can change through 360 degrees. This will make the sailing very interesting for an hour or so.

Not much wild life day today, just flying fish and a few sea birds.

We are now sailing in company with three other boats, Moin a German boat about 40 feet long, and Marite 111 also 40 feet and Karacool the 53 foot CAT who is also one of our group boats.

We all left within about an hour of each other. Karacool is now 130 miles ahead of us in Oyster Moon. Moin is about 75 miles behind with Marita 111 about 62 miles behind us.


More news on the next noon report

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