15:17.4N 51:47.5W

5 December 2011

Another slow and bouncy night that led us again to run the engine to get away from the slamming and banging.  This time the winds came back enough to restart sailing before dawn.  At first we just set the genoa out on the pole to make progress before making better adjustments when dawn broke.  As the winds did not grow too much at dawn we chose to fly the asymmetrical spinnaker and use the mainsail.  This is the first time on the trip that the conditions were acceptable to us to do this and it worked great.

First we had to bring in the genoa and secure the spinnaker pole on the mast in its proper place.  Then we brought out about 70% of the mainsail and secured that position with the preventer.  We raise the spinnaker, this time with all the lines connected close to the proper position.  Up it went without a problem and we were off.

Winds are light, 12 – 15 knots, so the boat speed at the most downwind angle we can take is about 6 knots.  Our heading is a bit too far south but the winds are supposed to change through the night and that should allow us to head further west as desired.

The spinnaker has allowed slightly better boat speed but it has significantly reduced the noise since it is a very light material and does not collapse with each wave as the genoa does.

So our plan is to fly the spinnaker through the night and gets some sleep.  The person on watch will need to be diligent since winds around 20 knots will require taking it down in a hurry.  We will see by morning how the plan worked.

Wildlife is changing.  One immature gannet circled for a while then two tropic birds.  Of course we are also seeing more Sargasso weed and a shampoo bottle letting us know we are on the right course to the Caribbean.

Weather is heating up and the interior of the boat is quite warm in the daytime.  We have heard on the radio or seen other ARC sailboats as we all begin to funnel toward St Lucia.

We made a slow 138 nautical mile distance noon to noon and have 530 nautical miles to go.  With the light winds 8 Dec may become 9 Dec for arrival.

View now with asymmetrical spinnaker flying.

Kind regards

Bruce