Atlantic Corssing Day 14 14:16.7N 50:17W

Stargazer
Andy & Jo
Sun 12 Mar 2023 19:13

Atlantic Crossing Day 14  - Sunday  12th March 2023

 

IF, we hadn’t been becalmed, I would have expected us to now be approaching the anchorage at Rodney Bay with the mate already getting her G&T out. Sadly, we were, and we still have another 625NM to go. At least all the unopened beer in the fridge helps to keep it stocked up and hence using less power to keep everything else cool.

 

Last night was like a channel crossing, the sea was choppy, the swell was beam on and it was pretty uncomfortable at times. We ran with poled out number 4 and the genoa on its normal sheets. Neither of us wanted to get up to our do watches, but we did, of course - we are just a bit tired after days at sea and when it’s lumpy at night, it’s not easy to drag yourself out of bed and get ready to go on deck. Imagine being thrown around in your bedroom as you try to get dressed and you’ll get the idea…

 

Today is very hot again and the wind was a decent 15kn to start with. Stargazer made excellent progress overnight and this morning, but has since succumbed to a more sedate pace as the wind has died. I don’t think we are becalmed again as such, because the wind is due to increase again in the evening. Even so, Stargazer’s distance run in the last 24 hours is a totally respectable 140NM. Overnight the battery died in the NEW tacktick masthead wind instrument (I suspect the solar cell is covered in sand as a result of being in Cape Verde), but the mate isn’t happy about it. It powers up in the day but only lasts about six hours at night. To add to this, Sargasso weed has clogged up the speed log so when we do receive wind data it is only apparent wind – this doesn’t really matter as we are running downwind and it’s pretty simple to add in our sog to the apparent wind to get a true wind figure, more or less. At dawn, I launched the duogen, but within 10 minutes it was clogged up with Sargasso, so we’ll have to acknowledge that it’s a pointless exercise and rely, sadly, on the engine to charge the batteries. I’m going to do this for three hours a day 2000 to 2300 and take that opportunity to make water as well. Needless to say this is on my off watch.

 

The mate is hot today, she has been resting under her makeshift bimini (a sarong tied to various things, that usually gets in the way when I have to go on deck). We’ve boomed out the genoa again to try and prevent it flobbing around in light airs and to give it a better shape when wind arrives. Hopefully, this rig set-up with last us all the way to Rodney Bay.

 

We’re coming up to night 15 at sea and both of us are looking forward to making a good distance so we can think about our arrival day/time in Rodney Bay. Although Sargasso weed had been reported all season and the beam on swell seems to be feature this year, no-one could have predicted the calms we’ve had; especially as the gribs were saying 15kn all the way!

 

The mate is doing well as our food stocks are being reduced and if there is one thing the mate likes – it’s food! So  I’m surprised she’s as calm as she is. As for me, no problem, I’ve got 5 tins of corned beef and 600 Yorkshire tea bags left…