Seaduced's Web Diary - Trade winds 2

Trade winds 2 - The Return!!

Seaduced

John & Jane Craven

Sat 4 Dec 2010 20:44

Since the last blog post we have been be-calmed the whole time!! Crossing the Atlantic at this time of year practically guarantees you a down wind sail all the way from at least Cape Verde to St Lucia, even from Gran Canaria some years if you're lucky, so you can imagine how disappointed we were to find that after 1 day of easterly winds the wind died and we were back to motoring along in flat calm seas with no wind in sight - all our forecasts kept saying the trade winds would arrive in 2 days! Unfortunately as we have been getting low on fuel due to light winds at the start, this has been something of a problem and we have been motoring very slowly to save fuel. This morning however our forecast is promising easterly winds all day, increasing to 15 knots later and, the best news yet, that these winds will stay with us until we reach St Lucia - thank goodness for that! We have been at sea for 14 days and expect to arrive in about 7-10 days time, providing the winds do as they are forecast - we are keeping all our fingers and toes crossed!!

Yesterday we found a stowaway on board, an egret, who was promptly named Eddie. It is a bit of a sad story as Eddie, being a land bird was obviously very lost, confused and frightened. He sat most of the day huddled on the davits at the back of the boat. We tried feeding him some left over chicken, but he didn't fancy that at all, the only thing he saw that he liked the look of was our fish shaped lure which he tried to eat and got tangled in. Thankfully he managed to free himself. He has now left us and we think he may have thrown himself off the mast earlier this morning when we were changing sails.

Eddie the Egret

Although only with us for a short time he certainly cheered us up, when he was resting on the davits last night he was rocking and swaying so much that it was a miracle he stayed on his perch, watching him entertained us for a good while - don't forget we are in the middle of the Atlantic and we have no TV!!

During our more despondent, becalmed phases yesterday we did debate whether he would make a good substitute for a turkey for Christmas lunch although it now looks as though we will make land before then - good job really as pickings would have been slim! This may sound dramatic but having had reports from home, the ETA's of some boats was for a short while set as some time in January although things may be changing now as the winds are due to pick up. We seem to be holding our own in our class but it is very difficult to tell accurately as positions change each day and they still have to add the penalty time for our hours of engine use before we get a final time.

Also fishing has now been re-introduced a a pastime on board in case we run out of food. We caught 3 small mahi-mahi yesterday but all were put back as they were a bit too small, only around a kilo each - in a weeks time when we are still drifting along we may be regretting that decision!!