Tropical Weather 40:24.5 60:05.7 sailed from Newport 500 miles and 1521 to go to Azores
Ellatrout3
Fri 11 Jul 2014 02:26
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"Eureka!! I can see a ship 13 miles away on my
AIS" That was a big relief this morning when he showed up, I was just
getting ready to call Paul on Independance for our morning exchange of Noon
BST position and there he was abeam of me and travelling in the same
direction.Since then four have passed me and I saw them well before they came
near. One I spoke to on the radio as he approached head on. He said he
would alter course as necessary and was only 5 miles away when he could detect
me on his redar, which is not very far really considering he was looking for me
and conditions were relatively calm. I'll have to keep a sharp look out
when seas are rough as I will difficult to see amongst all the
waves.
It has made a pleasant change to be able to talk freely to
Paul. Most mornings we share our experience through the night and exchange
positions. Also Paul has friends feeding him weather information and I can
get the weather Grib forecasts on my computer so we have been passing that
between us. This morning our exchange kept being broken so I assume we are
on the limit of our radio range. I will call him in the morning but I
suspect he won't hear me. Shame really as I've enjoyed having easy contact
and friendly conversation. We will keep in contact by satalite phone, of
course, on an as and when necessary basis, but it is not the
same.
It has been cloudy and sultry all day with several heavy
rain showers. We were warned last night as the gods were arguing with
thunder and lighteningcrashing about in the clouds but not comimg to earth (or
sea!) These conditions are quite testing, especially at night, because as
the rain clouds come across the wind gets up so you are for ever adjusting sails
at least or worse taking in and letting out reefs. But I'm not
complaining; look at the mileage we have done 500 miles in 4 days average 5+
knots continueous for 120 hours. That's fantastic for a little boat like
mine.
The key to all this is the Azores high, what it does and
where it goes. At the moment we seem to be chasing it east and as long as we
don't catch up with the centre and it keeps going we will be fine.
All this wonderfl mileage could be wiped out with a few days
calm.
Finally it is a beautiful night with a full moon shining
over a sparkling sea. We are gently sailing before a
warm wind at about 5 knots with the Gulf Stream pushing us up to 6 knots
straight to our destination. What more could you ask for??
Love Poppa/Dad/Roger
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