EMAIL HOME A Day of Two Halves - Passage to Cape Verde Day 3
Walkabout has gone Sailing
Andrew and Traci Roantree
Wed 10 Nov 2021 09:00
The wild winds and waves of the first 2 days have left us. Rather surprisingly, at about 0200 this morning the wind just fell away. Nothing in any forecast seemed to indicate this. But we have dropped from 20 knots during the evened to 6 knots now. Which is rather frustrating. I always find that sailing in very light winds is challenging - trying to eek out any bit of boat speed from very little wind, constant course and sail tweaking to get things going. Made harder in the dark and with only 3 hours sleep, but its not a race I keep having to remind myself!
Yesterday seemed like quite a busy day - but basically we went for a big sail change - dropping the main, furling the Genoa, and then setting up the Blue Water Runner (our downwind butterfly sail). That whole process took about and hour and a half. Working through things carefully in big seas and strong wind. It was a great decision. We started making progress directly to Cape Verde at decent speed. We sailing for about 15 hours with the BWR and the Hydrovane steering. We max-ed out at about 11 knots, and averaged over 8 for about 7 hours. All of this contributed to having our biggest ever 24 hour run on Tuesday - 180.3NM. Looks like we have made some good progress up through the fleet.
Today will not be a record breaking distance. We are currently making only 4.5knots in 6.5knots of wind. We have the BWR set as a Code Zero, and full main. Heading about 250deg, which will help get us around a forecast area of low wind to the south of us (thanks Ade&Bev).
Whilst trying to sleep in strong winds and big waves can be challenging, the same is true of very light winds. The boat rolls, sails fill and collapse, sheets snatch, and it is not conducive to a good nights sleep. There will probably be extra sleep periods during the day today.
The weather continues to surprise - but not delight. Yesterday was overcast and fleeces were required. Overnight was murky, damp and very cool. This morning is very murky - no sign of the sun - not good for our solar power. And with no wind to drive the wind turbine we will need to run the generator at some time today. Fingers crossed that it runs first time…
Last night for dinner was one of our favourite ‘nibbles’ supper - freshly made guacamole and humous with bread and tortilla chips, washed down with a glass of iced tea (this is a dry boat at sea).
There are 4 other ARC+ boats visible on AIS this morning - all struggling for speed. The nearest one is 12NM away.
As I finish writing this, things are starting to pick up - 8knts TWS and 6knts of boat speed (not necessarily in the right direction) - need to go and sort the Hydrovane now!!
A&Tx