Days 10 and 11. Position 15:21.872N 040:55.823W
Stravaig
Wed 3 Dec 2008 18:46
anything to say!!!
If you have been following our progress you will know that the winds have
been extremely light and that we have been heading towards a wind hole where
there is meant to been less wind - well we are now slap bang in the middle
of this wind hole! This boat only really starts to get moving when the winds
are around 13 knots - she is 65 tonnes! We have therefore had no option but
to motor sail and according to the weather reports we are receiving, it
looks like we may have to continue motor sailing for at least the next 2-3
days until we get out of the other end of this hole. Very frustrating! If
you can be bothered, Google a site called UGRIB and download the weather map
for the area we are in and have a look at the weather for yourself. There
you will see the hole that we are stuck in. It's huge and very
uncharacteristic weather for this part of the world at this time of the
year! Luck white heather eh?
We have been motor sailing for 3 days now, so much so that we are beginning
to run low on fuel. We are however hoping that we will have enough fuel to
get us to the other side of this wind hole where we think there will be
enough wind to carry us the remaining 1,000 or so miles to St Lucia. If the
winds stay light for much longer than this then we will have no option but
to sit it out and simply bob around the ocean waiting for the winds to
arrive. We can't wait!
According to the ARC web site we are sitting in 14th place at the moment
which is quite frankly astonishing! We are the third placed Oyster at the
moment which is just as astonishing. We are just hoping like hell that
everyone else has been using their engines as much as we have been! We think
they have been, given the daily mileage that they all seem to be reporting
so fingers crossed.
We have seen a few squalls over the past couple of days as we approach the
tropics. We had one this afternoon where the winds were 25knots+ with
torrential rain. Alex and Angus were on watch at the time!! We have found a
few additional small leaks in the boat but the good news is that the oillies
seem to work well!!
We were hoping that the lighter winds and flatter seas might have meant that
we might spot the odd whale or two but sadly we haven't seen anything so
far. We did catch another fish today though - a Wahoo according to Tom, our
resident fishing instructor!
We have put our clocks back another hour today so we are now two hours
behind you chaps at home. If we didn't keep doing this sunrise wouldn't
happen here until around 10am which could be a bit disconcerting!!
A couple of photos for you today; one of our 'catch of the day', one of the
fast approaching squall, and one of Alex and Angus on watch (hee,hee!).
