Position: 18:34:00N 27:40:70W

Transat Day 8

The highlights of the last 24hrs were gybing onto starboard at midnight, and gibing back at midday today – thrilling hey?  We sailed all afternoon in sight of 2 or 3 yachts, including a large ketch which we couldn’t identify – perhaps not an ARC yacht.  The winds have remained patchy with nothing more than 15kts, sometimes dropping to a frustrating 8-10kts – just not enough for us.  Just now and again, when the wind picks up and the waves are aligned, Nutmeg really takes off and feels like she is on rails – finger-light steering and 7kts.  However that is the exception rather than the norm and for the rest of the time it is hard work keeping her going.

We’ve been steering somewhere between 260 and 300 degrees magnetic (there is 15 degrees of west variation here), but it has been frustrating.  We had some trouble holding a course in the night and this led to an involuntary gybe and an involuntary tack!!

I am very tired as I ended up hand-steering for longer than usual and I need to go to bed this afternoon.  It is hard for someone as impatient as I am, to sit here in this light breeze, knowing that we’ve got a minimum of another 2 weeks of this.

Actually, I remember now – the other highlight of the last 24hrs was being radio net controller yesterday.  This is a good opportunity to have a chat to 10-20 other boats, which is nice.

Hope all’s well

Ollie x