First Night at Sea
Christine's Atlantic Circuit
Peter Lansdale
Mon 21 Nov 2016 07:10
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26:32N 15:45.8W
I came back on watch at 0600 after some welcome sleep as
I had finished my previous watch at midnight and was very tired. We have had a
good night of progress amd recently completed our first 100 miles.
The start yesterday had been great fun but rather too
relaxed and laid back as we eventually cross the line several minutes late.
But we made gentle progress under mainsail and genniker being very much at the
back. Partly due to our poor start and mainly due to being in group H which
comprises the slowest group of boats. In order to carry the genniker we were
making a course of 165 degrees which would have been fine if we wanted to go to
Africa so around 1700 we gybed the mainsail and poled out the genniker giving us
a course of 215.
After enjoying the pre-cooked stew I went below to try
to sleep. Very soon disturbed by an increase in speed and the auto-helm working
harder. The wind increased and we we running dead downwind at 8 plus
knots. Everything seemed to be coping so we continued expecting to come
out of the acceleration zone soon and the wind would drop. The wind was veering
round the bottom of Gran Canaria taking us too far west so that we would end up
in the island's wind shadow and the wind was blowing at 20 to 25 knots so at
2020 we gybed the mainsail again and took down the pole giving us a fast reach
on 200 degrees.
I spent my watch dodging other yachts as many were
crossing our course. Now at dawn very few yachts can be seen although many are
still within AIS range. The wind has dropped and the sea is quite calm.
Peter L
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