Sunday 27th April at sea, half way to Bermuda

Spellbinder
Sun 27 Apr 2008 12:49
Eric, Jane and Rosie duly arrived last Sunday evening, with tales of their night out in Manhattan en route.On Monday the new arrivals got stuck into the Tortolla scene, and went off to swim with dolphins, a great success.Henry and Martin finished off preparations around the boat, and bought in the fresh provisions ready for setting off.
Tuesday morning we leftTortolla after breakfasst, and had a lovely sail in a force 3 south easterly breeze along the Sir Francis Drake channel to Virgin Gorda, and three hours later we were berthing in the marina at Spanish Town.After lunch and a pause for the heat to subside, all but Henry set off for the beach. A good walk brought us to Savannha bay beach, where the new arrivals were introduced to the wonders of snorkelling on a coral reef.Back for supper on board.
Wednesday morning E, J and R set off after breakfast for one last swim, at the "Baths", an amazing beach with large boulders. Another great success for snorkelling, and early enough to beat the main crowds that fill up the beach most of the day. Back in time for lunch, and then it was time to set sail for Bermuda, in order to give us as much time as possible in the face of a forecast of light winds.Once clear of the marina, we found light southerly breeze, and decided to go for a double headsail rig of genneker and poled out genoa, which worked well with the wind dead astern.Quiet overnight progress, until 0830 on Thursday, when the wind swung into the north east and the rain came. Down genneker, up main with two reefs for the squally wind, and all of a sudden we were beating to windward. Unsettled for the next 6 hours, with the wind decreasing, and working round to the north west.Engine on at 1400, and then a period of quite heavy rain and poor visibility, which lasted through the night, with dramatic flashes of lightning, and some thunder.The wind came back into the south, and we were back with a downwind rig of main and boomed out genoa at midnight, until another shift into the north west around 7 on Friday morning.All sorted out by the watch by breakfast time, so Martin was greeted as he came up for the forenoon watch by a chorus of Happy Birthday from the assembled crew.We enjoyed a good sail for most of the day in a north west 2-3, and a light enough wind to light a couple of candles on a cake at tea time for another chorus of happy birthday. By 8pm the wind had reduced to the point where we had to motor sail to maintain our progress.As we drew clear of the unsettled rainy patch the air freshened and cooled, and now we are back to wearing extra layers at night for the first time in 6 months.
Motor sailed all night, and on through Saturday, with the wind in the north east, freshening during the day and building up some sea. The combination of engine and sails held us acceptably close to the required course, but progress was relatively slow, averaging around 4 knots with apparently very little assistance from the expected current.The wind veered some more into the east north east, so by 1620 we dispensed with the engine and sailed for the next 7 hours.Once again, the wind finally proved too fickle, and shortly after midnight it was back to motor sailing.
Today it is again fine and sunny, but the wind is still in the north east, and we are not quite making the required heading, so we are continuing to motor sail. We have now passed the half way point, but it looks like slow progress at least for the next day or so, with Thursday looking like the earliest we could hope to reach Bermuda.