Wednesday, 17 May 2023, 07.00
Strongbowofbosham
Wed 17 May 2023 11:52
1. Yesterday we fell into a forecast wind hole after making good progress towards the Azores all morning making 5 + Kn in 10 Kn of wind.
2. At midday when the wind died we rolled the sails and started the engine, planning to run at fairly low revs, around 1800 rpm to conserve fuel. Showing Paul my maintenance schedule for the engine he started to read the manual. Ahhhh! It contained a clear statement that the Yamaha is designed as a high rpm engine. It’s designed to run at 2500-3000 revs. Running at low revs leads to irreversible carbon choking of the engine and injectors. Low revs should only be used for 5 minutes when starting or before cutting the engine, when close manoeuvring or when going from forward to reverse gear. We then ran, faster, at 2500 rpm, using more diesel until 03.00 when the fair wind built. We’re now sailing at 5 + Kn on a direct line to the Azores.
3. We’ve sailed over 1,300 miles since leaving the BVI’s as we’ve worked our way through weather systems, with 1,100 miles to go. In reality roughly half way. If we can maintain current progress another 9 days to Horta. We will see!
31:27.17N 48:52.88W