Day 21 - Bermuda to Guernsey

Stravaig'n the Blue
Tue 14 Jun 2022 20:38
Position: 47:22.9 N 014:11.5 W
Position timestamp: Tuesday 14 June 2022 14:00 (UTC)
Distance travelled in last 24 hours: 142 NM (average speed 5.9 knots)
Reduction in distance to destination: 132 NM
Shortest distance to destination: 480 NM

Day 21. We’ve been at sea for three weeks! (Some would say we’ve been at sea for a whole lot longer than that.)

Yesterday afternoon, we motor-sailed NNE until the wind dropped below 5 knots at about 5pm, presumably somewhere towards the centre of the high pressure system. At that point we dropped the sails and started motoring directly towards Guernsey. With little wind, the seas flattened off and today the surface has been like a mill pond albeit on top of a gentle undulating swell.

Progress has been good and our ETA is currently some time late on Friday.

Tim has flagged very high winds in the western approaches to the English Channel on Saturday. We should be well clear of them but are keeping an eye on how that system develops.

Here’s a further update on matters culinary from Linda.

Once we are on our way, I don’t stick religiously to the menu plan. Sometimes you just don’t fancy a blue cheese, pear and chicory salad! Other times I bring meals forward that include ingredients that need eating, or I might swap something in from a small easy alternatives list if the seas are very rough, or the wind angle means we are wildly heeled over and food preparation becomes really hard.  Paté on toast with cup-a-soup featured on a couple of rough days early on. For much of the time though the boat is only slightly tipped and, although we’re often surfing down the waves, I usually make what’s on the menu. 

While the weather was still warm, it was often a salad: poached salmon with spinach on our first evening; butter bean and kale with fennel and cherry tomatoes was a yummy vegetarian lunch; and cauliflower tabbouleh with beef kofta the first supper using something from the freezer. We ate the rest of the tabbouleh with griddled halloumi the next day. 

When we left the warm waters of the western Atlantic behind I knew the evenings would become decidedly chilly. With this change of temperature in mind, the menu plan featured more hot bowl food that would be fairly easy to put together. We’ve had Thai prawn curry; meatballs in tomato gravy with quinoa and rice; and a spicy cauliflower rice kedgeree with smoked salmon, and we are looking forward to some warming stews and a comforting chowder.

All is well.

Allan