Atlantic crossing - Day 7 - Bloody weather forecasts

Svmagnum
mark barr
Fri 4 Jan 2013 12:33
Position – 16:48.66N 39:37.84W
Daily run – 136Nm
 
Before we left Cape Verde we had many weather discussions with people about to the same as us, the common consensus was that it looked good to go but that we should be prepared for a slow crossing as the winds were forecast to be light for most of the journey.
 
What a load of rubbish !!! So far not a day has passed when the “high wind alarm” hasn't been screeching its head off at some point of the day or night.
The alarm is generally set at the wind speeds we reef at, so if we have full sail up I set the alarm to 20knts, 1 reef in I change the alarm to 25 knts at which point I put the second reef in and so on.
On this trip it has been set at 30knts all the way and everyday it goes off.....unbelievable.
It should be helping us make some long distances each day, but because it is so strong the sea state is rough and we are having to sail slower than we would like rather than risk breaking something.
 
Still its warm, we have hazy sunshine  and the sea scape surrounding us is amazing.