Tuesday 12th September
Northern Light II
Michael & Sarah Loftus
Tue 12 Sep 2023 10:48
The crew ( Alexander, Tom & Nick King and myself) were ready to go at 8.00am on the 11th. The start of the journey was delayed to fog, Giles (Infinity ) having issues with his satellite and Andrew (Galatea) queuing for fuel. The 3 IOW wight boats agreed to leave together to go through Orca Alley with Giles and Andrew peeling off after the traffic separation zone off Cape Vincent. Eventually we left at 11.00am in flat seas with no wind and a slight fog. It was predicted to be motor sailing for 2 days due to winds of less than 7 knots. NLII was preperared for the Orcas - Alexander was on pyrotechnics , Tom and Nick on the pingers and me on the sand - after 5 hours thankfully there were no sightings even though Muriel was heard screaming on the VHF as a pod of dolphins approached - baby Orcas!
We said good bye to the 2 other boats and headed on a course of 215 to Las Palmas. Sadly Alexander is still not well but today feels much better. We have also had many stories from Nick of life on Nuclear Submarines and many sailing stories. The crew had Papa Michael‘s Pressure Cooker Bolognaise and thankfully no one was ill overnight. Flat seas over night with great views of the Galaxy. As at 12.45 today we have done 169 miles.
In a moment the sails are coming down, engine off and Nick & Tom are going for a swim.
Over and out until tomorrow
Michael