Day 10 - Mid-Atlantic
Talulah's Web Diary
Paul & Anette Morris
Wed 4 Jun 2008 17:17
Noon, 4th June 2008
We put the clocks forward again last night (plays havoc with the issue of sun-downers!), and we experienced almost total flat calms. We also took time to look at where we were in relation to the rest of the world. It seems that we were the most distant from any mainland almost anywhere in this part of the planet, with distances of 1800 miles from Europe, America (South and North) and Africa. The only thing giving 'salvation' are the islands of Bermuda and the Azores - (good job we chose them as stop offs eh?)
But only 109 miles covered yesterday in our very slowest 24 hours yet. We have almost no wind and seem to have between half a knot and just over a knot's worth of current against us too, which is quite strange and was not expected. So we have been motoring albeit slowly in order to conserve fuel and to give us the option of motoring all the way to Horta (another 534 miles), if we need to.
There was also almost no wind last night when one of our engines decided not to give us any readings on the instruments - or charge any batteries. Well after a bit of 'meddling', and lots of WD40 in the right areas, she decided to play ball again and off we went.
Anyway, the day was the hottest yet, and Anette and I had to shrink out of the cockpit and the sun towards the end of the day. The sky was the most neon blue, with just a few puffy white clouds on the horizon. It felt like we were floating along on a huge 'disc' of blue water, it seemed on an ocean without end. Later, we turned on the SSB radio to see if anyone else was out there, and heard a station from Canada (Southbound 2 - Herb, for those who know of him), giving weather routing info to some other yachts out in the North Atlantic, and we realised, with a tinge of regret, that we are not alone out here!!
A discussion on icebergs followed supper this evening, and how apparently, despite the heat, we are sailing through an area that has had icebergs and 'growlers' drifting south in the summer months. Global warming has I think (sadly?) slowed this down, and mostly they are now melted by the time they get this far south. But, they show up on the charts......
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