First day in December
Persevere
Pat and Bruce
Thu 1 Dec 2011 15:20
1 Dec 2011
Hard to believe it is December. Water temp is now 25.2 degrees C, the sun is hot and sky is party cloudy. The constant sound of waves breaking and the ride up and over the 2.5 meter (8 foot ) swells let you know you are at sea however. But if you close your eyes and just listen to the sea it does sound like you are on a tropical beach.
Seas were dominated by large waves last night and most of today. A little calmer now but still keeping the boat in constant motion. Winds grew to close to 30 knots during the night but have dropped to low 20s now.
As predicted the trade winds are blowing out of the east allowing us to make direct progress to St Lucia. According to our log meter we made 164 miles from noon to noon. Good distance. Today with the winds steady and the North Equatorial Current pushing us at one knot our SOG is around 7.5 to 8.0 knots.
Everything on the boat is fine. Each day we need to dispose of the flying fish that leap onto the deck during the night. Yesterday we gybe the boat from a starboard tack to a port tack. This takes about 30 minutes now since the spinnaker pole needs to be lowered and re- rigged for the other side. Genoa furled and unfurled, mainsail hauled in tight and gybed and prevent reset. Then final adjustments and coiling of lines.
On this tack we have a better angle on the nighttime winds and it also changes chafe points which is critical.
So we have completed 1629 miles and have 1167 to go.
Kind regards