Day 15 - 16th June - Fast sailing overnight
SY Saphir -
Jeff & Doreen
Fri 17 Jun 2022 01:04
Noon to noon of 165nm - close to our best. Distance to go 619nm
We have probably had some of the best sailing in the last 24 hours of the trip so far. The wind increased to around 22 knots for most of the night and we were flying with clear blue skys during today. I have some good photos which I will post when we get in and have a decent internet connection.
I noticed the autopilot was struggling with the larger quartering seas that were building up and rounding the boat up before it would get back on course so we were tracking across the ocean in a great big “S” shape which is slow and puts a lot of strain on things unnecessarily. I hand steered for a while to check the sail trim and see if we needed to shorten sail but steering by hand the boat was perfectly balanced and you could keep it in a straight line with the lightest of touches. I looked at the different trim options in the autopilot menu of which there are three depending on how much power you want to use and how straight a course you need to steer. I changed the setting to what is classed as “Leisure”, which is the least straight course using the lowest power and it transformed the way the pilot was working. It allowed the boat to go off course a few degrees before it would bring it back and by that time the boat was back on course by itself. It had the opposite effect to what you would think but a good lesson learned for myself.
I am not talking about fishing today…..
Doreen and I were chatting about the fact we have had no news from the outside world since we left which is strange when you are used to checking the news channels every few hours when on land using your phone or computer. The strange thing is that we don’t miss not having the internet at all and it is good to be able to read, talk, think and plan without having distractions all the time. I know that we have the capability to send basic emails, make phone calls and send texts via our Iridium phones and that is good, but because the service is limited off course you don’t tend to use it as you do on land. There is no question that the internet is an incredible tool but in my opinion adds to the stress of everyday life massively. Everyone should sail across an Ocean or camp on an uninhabited island and try and be without it for a month, it is a pleasant experience…
Anyway enough of my thought of the day, tomorrow is Friday (POETS day for some) and then we can start to think about getting in early next week.
We are going to enjoy the last few days of this crossing while it lasts.
Cheers
Saphir