36 11.14 N 004 57.71 W Noon site - all is well
Pipedream
Fri 13 Jan 2012 10:50
We left Almiramar about a half hour late... (captain's time) not bad. We
were able to sail most of the day making about 4 kts with 12 kts of wind
blowing from the west in a pretty good chop. Matt had us going wing on wing
for most of that. At around sunset the wind shifted and started to die and
around 11 pm we started to fall below 3 kts and turned the engine on.
This morning we started to pick up some significant ship traffic. Matt
called me up on deck early this morning as a freighter came up on us from
behind at about 14 kts. We called him on the radio to make sure he had us
in site and arranged for him to pass us about a quarter mile to starboard.
(chicken... you bet!)
John made us a chicken and pasta dish last night that was excellent... looks
like we have a real winner in the chef's berth ( he is officially upgraded
from cook ). We are having to run the gen set about every 4 hours to feed
the freezer and the engine is still gurgling away from last night.
We will likely make the turn south across the shipping lanes and the eastern
straights in about 4 hours. Our pilot says there is a favorable west going
current through the straight 4 hours after high water. Now all we have to
do is figure out where the tide table is, what time it is here locally, and
when we will be ready to go through.
A stop in Ceuta for a final water and diesel fill is advisable before we
head to the Canaries. There is also supposed to be a pretty good blow
coming as we head south along the African coast, 35 kts, and we have to do a
little noddling in Ceuta to see if we can safely get in front of it. We are
running maybe 8 hours behind our projected routing likely from little wind
and the easterly setting current. It looks like we will have to sit for a
few days if we can't make this window work. Safety first.