Nearly halfway
VitaminSea
Ramiro Salom & Blanca Boira
Sat 10 Dec 2022 12:52
039 degrees. 42 min W
We are today on our 10th day of our passage from Mindelo to St Lucia.
The last week has been frustrating as the winds have been pretty light. We spent lots of time trying to increase our boat’s speed and deciding on how to better use our engine time. We left Mindelo with 290 Litres of Diesel and we need to use it wisely. So far we are close to the midpoint (probably tomorrow) and we have used around 100 Litres. We still have 190 Litres if we need it. The trade winds are not performing and further areas of light winds can occur.
Yesterday the amount of weeds on the Ocean went to a point which interfered with our Wind Pilot /Hydrovane/Angelina. I spent over two hours trying to stabilise the Course but I failed. The prospect of hand steering for the rest of the passage was pretty worrying. The wind was light and we decided to start the engine with the electric autopilot and go to sleep (watches of three hours each).
This morning, I decided to combine the wind vane with the electronic wind vane and it is working very well ( the battery is holding the charge too).
It looks as if “Angelina” works better with the help of “Angelino”.
Weather wise, today is a different day. We have winds of 12 to 14 knots and with our sails up (full Main and Twin headsails) we are doing speeds of around six knots.
That is my report today.
Lots of love.
Ramiro