52:13.2N 22:23.1W
Sula Sula III
Mark
Sat 15 Jul 2023 12:27
18:00hrs. Gave her a tiny bit more main.....better balance and speed.... Still enough in the tank to absorb another 3/5 knots increase forecast for later. The clever avatars are staying high so when it blows a bit tonight they can sail a bit more free. A cunning plan indeed.
19.00hrs. just had the first fairly constant 28/30 knots... Spent a bit of time balancing the staysail to the main then Augustnot finds it a doddle. When we are doing over 7 knots and in balance, she is carving through the seas so the autopilot has very little to do.
21.30hrs. just updated the Grib.... They all seem to be suggesting a bit more wind than before. Steady at the moment in the 25-30 range, but the seas are shaping up a bit, so altogether more comfortable. The first photo is one from the quarter birth porthole when I went for a lie down, so is the second one.
23.30hrs. well the next 5 knots make a big difference! 35+ is an entirely different experience. I was enjoying half a bar of 80% chocolate (I can make that last a couple of hours....Tantric chocolate eating?) When the first big wind hit us; Sula just luffed up and I just went with that and hove too. She is very tolerant of me.... I had too much main out when the wind picked up, and too much Staysail.....(still chasing speed maybe.... Or just niaeve?) Either way, Sula forgave me, when the wind dropped back to below 30 again I made the requisite adjustments and gybed back onto course. The rest of the night was relatively uneventful; still managed to average 6 knots even heaving too a couple more times in the big puffs.
09.00hrs 15/07. In daylight I can see the big wind coming under black clouds....but with better sail configuration she can still cope at 35 knots on 120° to it. Our course should be just less than 100° to the wind, but in the bigger blows she can't handle that. I can also see what has happened overnight. The leeward horseshoe buoy has been washed off it's bracket, and the covers have blown off hatches and storage boxes....but all tied on so nothing lost. Seas are still a bit of a mess...not sure they are 3.5m though. I am glad I haven't got this after crossing the continental shelf, that would have made this lot very uncomfortable.
12.00hrs. just updated the chart....148 for the 24 hrs.... And that is with about an hour hove too.
