36:14.602 N
007:59.441W
07/07/10
16:00
Well the wind strength decreased and the sail area
increased until we had no more canvas to set. Then the wind, all 7 knots of it,
backed ENE and when we were practically dead in the water I gave up and released
the Yanmar beast. Given the most recent wind prognosis we
could wind up motoring most of the remaining 280 miles, which would get us in
fairly early Friday morning.
During the day, the sun almost managed to burn off the
grey haze, for a while it was a very pale blue haze, but the grey has
triumphantly returned. Ugh.
08/07/10
00:15
Wind has gone SW
Force 3 so we’re still motoring.
No sunset this evening just the return of the grey. It’s much warmer now
even in the evening. Very quiet
night. We were able to make water
again so another round of showers no problem. We had tuna for dinner, but we had
bought it in Horta. This is the
first crossing not to catch any fish. The big Swan had the same experience. Lots of motoring and no fish.
02:30
A cargo ship overtakes us from behind and passes us a
half mile off our starboard bow. It’s amazing how much closer he looks in the dark. Very pleased with the AIS and the
Radar.
As all shipping is converging or coming from
Gibraltar we’ll have lots of company from now
on.
09:00
Wind is WSW Force 1, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so
low. The grey mush we’re encapsulated in has gotten really warm. The sea is
glassy apart from the wakes of passing freighters. Only 150 miles to go so we’ll be in very early
tomorrow.
11:00
The wind has rocketed up to WNW Force 2. The Sun is
having another go at burning off the grey sludge.
Steve took took some pictures of a different yacht
transport ship than the one we used. which passed us earlier this morning. The
ships are all deck cargo, a very different system than on Dockwise.
Yesterday’s
run was 181 miles with a little over 9 hours under engine. With 134
