Day 17 Evening
Top Secret
Feel The Magic Yacht Vacations
Mon 9 Dec 2013 22:51
Time (UTC) : 20:00
Position : 19:02.780N 56:09.160W
Distance To Dest : 319 nm
Heading (TRUE) : 252 degrees
Average Speed : 06.94 kts
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Barometer Reading : 1016
Wave height : 06 ft
Wind Speed (TRUE) : 16.50 kts
Wind Direction (TRUE) : 35 degrees
Water Temperature : 25 C
Air Temperature : 27 C
ACTIVITIES:
We have been making quite good progress under fully reefed main and full head sail over the past 18 hours. Better than expected distance has been covered.
The wind has been from directly behind us and we are sailing wind on wing - Main to windward a little and head sail to lee.
We have done a 160 mile run this way. not quite as good as the 196 mile runs we had with the asymmetric, but not too bad.
If all goes the same we will be able to drop Ed and Jules off in Antigua at around midnight and then begin the 190 mile run up to the BVI. If we are lucky the run will take less than 30 hours and if we are even luckier, we might get the wind from the beam enough to give us a nice broad reach and speed us along at 9+ knots. (We have have not been lucky so far though....)
The weather is much better here and the temperatures are more suitable to human habitation in these parts. The sky is blue and the clouds are white (normal). The boat is a bit salty and will need a good clean when we arrive in Tortola. So far nothing has broken except for the asymmetric and all is going well. Our food supply is holding out well and there are still a few fillet steaks and the like to eat. We are down to our last potato, which has lasted much, much better than expected. Our supply of eggs is still large and an English breakfast is on the cards before the boys hop off.
The grib files and Tony the weatherman (Jules' Dad) say that we will have good wind all the way. I just hope it stays behind us so that we can use both the sails as effectively as we have done for the last 18 hours.
The wind has dropped off a bit now and we are only getting 6 - 6.5 knots over the ground, but I am sure this will get a little better, sending us to 7-8 knots soon.
The boat feels most comfortable doing more than 7 knots most of the time and gets bumpy when the speed drops.