16th April - 18:54.274N 063:18.498W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 17 Apr 2013 14:50
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"16th April - North Atlantic Southern
Part"
We left Simpsons Bay Lagoon when the bridge
opened at 9am. We waved farewell to Troskala who was anchored out in the
Bay. Within minutes of clearing the bridge our sails were up, the engine
off and we were on our way, with a gentle force 3 behind us. As we rounded
up past St Maarten and set our course, it was like being in the "starting
gates", with a beam reach Whisper was suddenly off and we sprinted along at
7 knots. We passed Anguilla and her Dog Islands, the seas then became very
lively, but we were still enjoying sailing. As lunch time approached, it
was time to put Windy Bill back to work. He has had nearly five
months holiday and now he has to work again.
With Windy Bill at the helm, we galloped along at
7-8 knots, as the ocean became deeper so the waves lengthened and our
movement has settled down considerably.
We have been keeping an eye out for Black Watch as
today they depart from Tortolla in the British Virgin Islands on passage to the
Azores and it is possible that she might cross our bow. It really
was a forlorn hope, but imagine our excitement when the ship approaching on our
portside, showed up on the AIS as being Black Watch on a course of 65
degrees, which meant that she would pass in front of us. Noel called
up the ship on the Radio and asked the Captain if he could tell Sylvia and David
that we were on their starboard side. He said that he would and a few
minutes later confirmed that he had done so. They passed in front of us at a
range of 1.2 nautical miles. What a great coincidence in such a vast
ocean.
We have made good progress today, when we left
this morning the GPS calculated that we had 861 miles to go, as I
write this we have 802 not bad in 10 hours! Its time to get
dinner!
Photograph: "Next Please!"
"Black Watch"
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