December 4
Persevere
Pat and Bruce
Sun 4 Dec 2011 14:12
4 December 2011
Winds have been and will continue to be low. The seas have dropped some in the size of the swells but still alter the path of the boat as they pass under. Last evening we tested the asymmetrical spinnaker. This sail was purchased with the boat but it's size and complexity are too much for just Pat and myself to handle alone so we never use it. With five on board it is manageable so we set it late yesterday afternoon. Looking at a few connections we brought it down and made some adjustments. Then set it again. Still not right but enough learned to have a better time when we plan to use it. No big deal the boat is moving along well using the poled out genoa and mainsail.
We know we are approaching the Caribbean as Sargasso weed is now present in the water. This is a seaweed that has small gas bladders that allow it to float on the surface once it breaks free.
Today we also have two other boats in the vicinity. One we have been pacing with the last three days and the other is new to us. Both provide some distraction from the daily routines.
With the low winds the noon to noon distance was down to 139 nautical miles. I expect that we will do about the same over the next day. If conditions allow raising the spinnaker that will add speed in light winds and would improve the distance greatly. However we are not taking risks with breaking things so we are conservative in our sailing.
So far in the ARC group one boat lost a forestay, one broke their boom and a third has damaged it's sailing rig to force it to motor the rest of the way. Not bad out of 250 boats.
Thanks to all our friends reading the blog and oh those guys from N Jersey too!
700 miles to go.
Kind regards