15:57N 26:29W

 

The first few nights of a passage are always the worst when it comes to sleep.  There’s a little each of anxiety, excitement and anticipation weighing in to keep adrenaline levels pumping as well as all those “sea” noises to get used to (again).  Bandit has developed a few creaks and groans of her own which annoy me intensely while David’s bugbear is the wind generator (which I don’t notice).  Of course there is always the odd flap of the sail and slap of a halyard when wind eases too.  But perhaps worst of all is the roll.  As we are sailing downwind, with a swell, the rolling motion is unrelenting....and for the first few days until you adjust anyway it’s pretty hard to do anything especially sleep. 

 

We tried sleeping in our twin cabin which is just forward of the saloon and more stable than either the aft or forward cabin and less noisy – in fact the only noise you hear is the soothing sound of the sea rushing past the hull.  Night watches are a nightmare the first night and last night was no exception.  I get on the computer and write emails or play cards and that seems to zap my brain for a few hours.  David just gives in and sets the egg timer for 10 mins so he can get up and scan the horizon.  A sail change is a sure way to wake you up and we managed two of those during the night!!!  Anyway.... we got through and now it’s daylight, everything looks pretty good out in the Atlantic!  But we’re both hoping to get some sleep today to stop that Eyes Wide Shut feeling.

 

From the skipper: we are sailing with the genoa poled out and a full main with the wind on the port quarter. Our plan is to sail SW to get to about 13 deg N lat before heading west .This is to avoid an area of light and flukey winds predicted above 13 deg N and about 35 W at Christmas time. There always seems to be a good corridor of trade winds about 12 – 13 deg N between the major winter weather disturbances in the North Atlantic and the fickle wind area north of the equator. There is a major low in the north now, the swells from that are likely to reach us in a few days which probably will make life a little less comfortable. Two of the other boats we left with yesterday seem to be taking the great circle route to Barbados, north of us and shorter ,but who will get the better winds. We will see.