Why go sailing? "19:23.53N 67:45.54W"

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Tue 17 May 2011 14:49
We set off for Bermuda at 1100hrs local time yesterday. The first thing that happened is that the autopilot suddenly decided not to work (it says 'low battery' which is not the case, so it's probably a computer problem which can only be fixed ashore and probably not in Bermuda). We are thus forced to hand steer for 900 miles, three hours on and three hours off. A novel experience. Then the wind dropped - not enough to stop us sailing, but enough to slow us down to a frustrating crawl for a few hours. things then improved until 0700hrs this morning when some really horrible (unforecast) weather hit us from out of nowhere. I spent two hours in driving rain, 30-40 knot winds and heavy seas going in the wrong direction. Now the wind has dropped to nothing and we're forced to motor which really goes against the grain.
But other than that we're OK. Less than 800 miles to go now.