Trade winds?
ALICE'S ADVENTURES
ANDREW AND CELIA SHARPE
Sat 4 Dec 2010 12:24
|
After our wonderful sail yesterday averaging 8-9 knots
for 6 hours, the wind died completely and it was back to motoring. By
about 2.00 this morning a breeze came back and now we are sailing very
comfortably on a broad reach at about 5 to 6 knots. The breeze
is about 10 knots from the north east at last - could this be the start of the
promised trade winds?????????? We do hope so.
Roger caught a fish yesterday, same type as Georges but
smaller. Dinner was already prepared (beef bourgignon and potatoes) so it
was filleted and put in the freezer. Only enough for 2 on this one
tho.
The Caribbean is 4 hours behind UTC. Las Palmas
was the same time as home. Every 15 degrees of longitude we change the
clocks by one hour to keep the right hours of daylight. We are now at 38
degrees so we changed the clocks at 15 degrees (the day after Las Palmas) and 30
degrees. Next change at 45 and 60 degrees. So at present we are on
UTC (or GMT if you prefer) minus 2. Ships time stays at UTC for
getting the info through from World Cruising Club for weather and position
reports etc. Can't work out the time differences for our friends following
us in Australia, Vancouver and Cape Town so leave that to them!
We hear that southern England is covered in snow - even
Hengistbury Head and Cowes and the whole country has come to a standstill.
We have blue sky this morning for the first time in quite a few days. It
is very hot - 30 degrees and muggy too. Still quite a lot of squall clouds
around.
This looks as though it is the slowest ARC for a few
years as the trade winds have been so elusive and there have been storms where
the Azores High should be. We still hope to be in St Lucia well in time to
connect with all flights. 1329 miles to go.
After 48 hours on our own there is another yacht in
sight and they are catching us up! Have tried calling on the vhf but no
reply. Last one we spoke to was Rikaros on Wednesday. Unfortunately still
cant get the SSB receiver to pick up anything so can't listen in to the radio
nets.
ALICE and her crew
|