We are now fully loaded and a few kilos more than expected so will have to
start eating through provisions vigorously and urgently after departure.
Katy is down to the waterline but the scuppers are clear so we should be ok.
The departure looks to be challenging with a force 6-7 forecasted and up to
3 metre waves for the first 24 hours. This is further exacerbated by the
Canaries acceleration zone. We'll aim to go offshore a few miles and then go
due south for the first day before putting more west in our course. This
keeps us away from the higher winds which will gust up to about 40 knots
around the airport. Hopefully come Monday night things will calm down to a
force 5 - 6 which carries us at a fair clip through to Wednesday when it
should all calm down further to just a 5. By Saturday we should be past the
Cape Verde Islands all going well before finally turning to the west to aim
directly at St. Lucia with an arrival 2-3 weeks later. We're looking for the
trade wind conveyor belt which once we're on we won't get off til we hit the
Caribbean. This is the point where people say head south til the butter
melts then turn west. Our start time is at 13:00. The YB Tracker has stopped
working and I'm told they will replace it but not sure when so only the
Garmin tracker is working right now.