21st June 35 37.620N 44 08.607W
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Wed 21 Jun 2017 12:38
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Yesterday, we fell into a hole. We serenely sailed
in to a very large no wind zone on the evening of 20th. So engine on, we slipped
slowly forward that night, making about 2 knots towards the Azores, while
carrying 4 knots through the water. We were trying to go against a west bound
current. Normally, the current in these parts tracks east, but clearly it
has been reversed by the strong north easterly and easterly winds we had a few
days ago.
Motoring is relatively futile in this scenario. We
only have fuel for say, 60 hours and at that pace, that's, well, 120 miles. So
at dawn, after a rest for the crew, the engine went off and I tried a day of
light wind sailing.
It was just like offshore racing in France! Except
the current is relentless, and doesn't change direction after 6 hours. You just
keep on keeping on,eyes on the sails and the GPS In the 14 hours or so I
helmed yesterday (conditions too fickle for the autopilot) we covered about 1.5
miles! But we were saved from being sent 25 miles backwards on the
current.
On nature watch, it was an interesting day.
All day long, we sailed through flotillas of the already mentioned Portuguese
men of war. Thousands of them. We also saw a couple of turtles, one in
rude health, but the other sadly, apparently dead, victim of a plastic bag. At
dusk we were briefly visited by a pod of dolphins, but the scooted off, as we
had no boatspeed or pressure wave to play in. Then, just after dark,the piece de
resistance....a whale, blowing no more than 2 boatlenghts away from us. We
cannot say which type or species, but it was larger than Persephone, and lying
meekly on the surface, breathing deeply, possibly ahead of another deep
dive....
Breathtaking moments for us.
Today, as they say is a new day. We have a breeze,
it's in a nice direction and we are sailingeast as fast as we can. 760
miles to Horta.
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