Atlantic Crossing Day 8  - Monday 6^th  March 2023

We’re a little early typing this today, because we are half way (or will be a bit later this afternoon –but maybe it won’t show that on Mercator charts or wall-planners). This means that we are 1000NM from anywhere (except possibly French Guianna, or Brazil, but we aren’t going there – this time!) When we first left Cape Verde we were flying and I thought our passage time might clip inside 14 days. Sadly, since then, we’ve had Sargasso weed and now some lighter winds; meaning I’m now expecting around 16 days for the crossing- 15 with good luck.

Last night, we’d hoped for a good night’s sleep but got the opposite. Light winds, swell and the mate waking me up to recover the duogen (totally covered in weed and slowing us down far too much) all added up to a fitful night for us both. This morning, before sunrise, I capitulated and started the engine. The batteries (new Rolls batteries) were taking a bit of a hit and with only solar available today there was no way to juice them up without some mechanical assistance. Choosing the point where the wind dropped to below 8knots true, we motored on at 1400rpm, giving us about 4.9 knots SOG. On starting the engine the vibrations from the prop where far more than normal, causing the mate to leap out of bed. Clearly Sargasso weed had done its worst, some clear thinking later and I engaged astern before moving ahead again. This cleared the ‘debris’ and all was well with the lovely new Darglow prop doing its job very well. After about two hours, with a small amount of solar assistance the batteries were charged up. We’ve taken to turning the fridge off over-night, the mate’s not totally happy about it, but the power consumption without the duogen’s charge is more than I can bare. We were aware of weed prior to leaving as other boats that had already arrived in the Caribbean had reported it, but we just weren’t ready for the amount of it and its subsequent effect on our charging system.

After I’d attempted some basic fridge insulation and the mate had attended to a shower pump, I noticed on turning off the engine that some sea water was swilling around on the reverse gear casing. I traced this down to the anti-syphon valve. All anti syphon valves can be annoying and this Volvo Penta one is no different. It’s basically a duck-billed valve that costs about £1, but VP want to charge £70 for the unit  - you’ve guessed it, you can’t just buy the db valve… I must confess that it’s not a wholly new problem, I intend to change it in the Caribbean with whatever suitable valve is available. Until then, we’ve wrapped  a bit of ptfe tape around the edge of the valve and put a bit of silicone grease in its ‘duck bill’. For good measure, we’ve also wrapped a puppy pad around the point where it’s been dripping.

Late morning, whilst the mate was demanding more crisps, I walked around the deck doing a rig check. All looked fine, except one of the staysail genoa sheets bowlines was coming undone – easily sorted.

Our plan is to only use sail power, regardless of the wind strength from sunrise to sunset, allowing solar to take over charging the batteries and then at sunset have an hour or so motoring. The fridge, we’ll turn off at the 2300 watch change and put back on again at the 0500 watch change. This will save a decent amount of amp hours, we’ll also have another hour or so motoring before full daylight. This way, we can manage without the duogen and without using too much precious diesel. (When I say motor, I mean just have the engine on with a little ahead, but still actually sailing). The mate wants me to add, that Stargazer is pulling us along in 8knots true with just a poled out number 4 at 4 knots boat speed- what a boat! We could put the genoa out too, but all it will do is flop around and probably slow us down a bit, so we’ll wait for more breeze for that.

The weather looks settled again for the rest of the day and overnight. There is another system coming from the States and some wind forecast later tomorrow. I’ve asked for 18knots from the NE with a 1m sea. I wonder what we’ll get?

We’re about to treat ourselves to a small tipple to celebrate halfway across the Atlantic Ocean!! As I just said that, I’ve been teasing the mate about fish for supper tonight and she’s just walked past me with her rod. I’ll go on deck, pretend to read my book and observe proceedings.

I’ll keep you posted…