Ship's Log
Rebel T
Tim Walsh
Tue 20 May 2008 18:05
Dear One and All
Ship's time 16.42GMT 20.05. 2008
We have over the past 48 hours experienced no wind for some 6 hrs and the
watch crew at the time elected to motor sail for position to pick up the
prevailing westerly depression that was building slightly to the NW of us .
Rebel was obviously still within the high area all be it just and
experiencing very fine weather, but not exactly what the Doctor ordered or
what the crew were hoping for. 4 HRS later a noticeable wind shift from
zero to a filling SW and we were off under the care of Maximus sailing
almost straight at the Azores. And that has been the order of events as the
depression developed, with sail changes to main sail and genoa, reaching as
the wind shifted and we wished to make a little more NORTH, then to reefed
main and genoa, and as the wind built up during the night we down sized
again to the storm jib with reefed main, as at the moment we cannot furl our
genoa, so it is removed and replaced with the tiny storm sail that we carry.
It works very well, giving on this occasion 8knots in 18-26 knots of a
westerly breeze that finally topped at around 26 knots. We progressively
changed sails in reverse as the wind declined and moved to just slightly
North of west, and as we are now Picasso (72 metre Parasail) is taking us
straight to the Azores at around 6.9 -8knots in wind that is fluctuating
between 14 and 20knots .
Miles now on the ship's log read 2095nm from Grenada, with just over 650nm
to run to the Azores. Our passage plan for fast time was for our arrival on
the night of 21st May early 22nd. That was a little adventurous perhaps, and
given circumstances not achievable, but caveat on plan posted gave a
conservative time that suggested arrival 2/3days later. That I believe is
more likely to become a fact. Keeping fingers a little crossed.
I have been delighted with our fuel burn so far, since leaving Grenada, St.
David's bay we have used slightly less than 60 litres of diesel. Our recent
motor sail session is included within that, but for that decision Rebel
would have barely used 45 litres. Long may it last.....
All in all the past two days have been a time for reflection, house
keeping, routine maintenance, re-establishing watch system and sleep
patterns, boat cleaning , Rebel did for a short while again look like a
Chinese junk with washing hanging up every where. But all is now again in
relative order and crew looking forward to arrival at the Azores as we move
from 600+ into the 500's nm to run. Small targets set and achieved keep
spirits up .
We have now started to see more marine life, with dolphins, Portuguese man
of war's, and turtles. Sea birds are still rare visitor's. Our closest
visitor to date had been a 46 ft yacht under headsail alone that we past in
the early hours of this morning quarter of a mile of our port side.We left
them behind within the hour, back in the light falling rain that is the warn
sector of the current depression that we are traveling along with.
We tried to send a photo to Tim of crew toasting his recent milestone , I
compressed it but still found it to be a rather large file size, so have
placed it within the ship's computer files for discovery at a later date by
himself. Tim enjoy your xxx's , please note I did not give the game away....
All best wishes from Rebel's crowd.
To all our girls at home Eileen, Clare, Stephanie,Ellie, and Nathan look
after yourselves . The phones will I am sure be running hot on arrival at
the Azores.
Best wishes to everyone
David.