Patience Blog

 

Hello to all of you that are following us

 

After 36 hours of head winds up to 25 knots the wind has died down to 3 knots.

The last 36 hours has been quite testing on all all of us but since 02.00 hrs this morning the wind has been moderating.

I believe it is fair to say that it is not the “normal” conditions expected for the ARC.  As you can all imagine the wind strength and direction are the most popular topic for discussion.  We are able to download Grib files from the computer which gives us a prediction of wind strength and direction.  Also we are able to receive weather reports from the ARC office and routing information from Chris Tibbs who is part of the ARC team.

 

Anyway I am pleased to report that we have decided to go south in the hope that we pick up some trade winds in the next 24 hours.  We are still 1729 miles from St Lucia.  Nevertheless spirits are high and we have all had a sea water wash and 18 second rinse in fresh water, it was very nice and refreshing.

 

Our watch system of 4 hours on and 6 hours off is working well and already we have moved our clocks back an hour as we move across the time zone.

 

The one thing that is really amazing is the size of the Ocean and we can go for a whole day without seeing another boat.  Interestingly we are alongside another ARC boat number 112 which is a Beneteau 47.7 from Italy which is in the Racing division.

 

The nights are long with nearly 12 hours of darkness, and the moon is in the last quarter so did not come out until 02.00  hrs this morning.  Often in the night we are kept amused by the hosts of Flying Fish which occasionally land on the deck. 

 

And now to the fishing, so far no fish landed so unable to test the very fine looking gaff.  Still we keep trying and live in hope. 

 

Greeting to all

 

Bob from Patience