On the western side of the Atlantic, the land mass of North America and the confluence of the warm Gulf Stream, with the cold Labrador current results in unstable conditions. This causes a succession of depressions to form over the western North Atlantic that move east and north east towards Europe. These depressions, or fronts, bring stronger winds and squalls that have passed over us every three days or so. We therefore experience the monotony of motoring coupled with the exhilaration of beating into the seas and wind. The photos show a front approaching with accompanying squalls.

 

 

We send a daily position report with local conditions to Chris Tibbs in the UK, who provides us with remarkably accurate weather predictions and suggested route to take. A typical report is as follows; The high is still to the NE of you and is ridging towards the UK, low pressure has formed east of the Azores which extends to N Africa and Spain which is giving a large area of NE'ly flow which covers the Azores. A cold front to the west is expected to weaken as it runs into the high pressure which will continue to give variable wind for the next few days until a deep low and front changes the pattern late in the week.

Monday 6th
06-1200                light S-SE
12-1800                light and variable
18-2400                becoming light NE

The infamous Saragossa sea lies between the Caribbean and Bermuda, a watery desert where the Saragossa weed is swept together by wind and current. The weed is broken off the coasts of the Caribbean islands by storms and carried here, where it propagates by fragmentation. It grows on the surface of the sea and supports a myriad different forms of life. The seamen of the 18th century were convinced that they were on the edge of a vast and malignant ocean of weed, that would trap their ships and keep them there until they starved or were attacked by a primeval sea-monster.

 

Being the three of us, Ted, Tom and myself, we have adopted a 2-3 watch system. This means that we stand individual watches of 2 hours each commencing in the evening at 18h00 until the morning at 06h00, whereafter we change to 3 hourly. It is a safe system as it is easy to do 2 hours alone at night without falling asleep, and you then have 4 hours of sleep before the next watch. There is only the evening meal, that the off watch person prepares, where we all get together. It is every man for himself for breakfast and lunch. There have been some great meals prepared by all. Ted caught a magnificent 7kg Mahi Mahi (Dorado) that Tom baked  for us the next evening as Ted had prepared meatballs for dinner that night. Coupled with salmon and tuna sushi the day before we certainly are getting our dose of Omega-3.

 

After the lifeless Southern Atlantic, it is wonderful to wake up this morning to a pod of pilot whales cavorting in front of us. To top it, this afternoon a school of bottlenose dolphins played in our wake. What a privilege it is to be able to experience all this.