Transatlantic Passage Day 10, 20 January 2013
Petronella
Mon 21 Jan 2013 00:28
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14:20.81N 45:57.91W
Trades seemed to have settled in properly at last.
185nm 24hour run. Not only are we now past the halfway point, the Distance To Go
is now reading below 1000 which is encouraging.
Great excitement this morning. A sail was
sighted on the starboard bow. We contacted her by VHF and altered course to pass
close by. Amazing that our paths should cross in this expanse of ocean. She was
the Gros Calin (Big Hug), a small 29' french schooner. We chatted with her crew,
Elodie and Andre and photos were taken of each boat from the other. They had
left Mindelo three days before us and were bound for Barbados. We passed
over weather data to them and hope we might meet up in the Caribbean
sometime.
 One small technical problem today, we realised that
the towed electrical generator was no longer charging the batteries. We
recovered the towed impeller to discover it had somehow got tangled in the
towline, probably caused when we were surfing down a wave. Peter's bosun's
skills were called upon to put a whipping on the frayed rope braid and the
generator, nicknamed "Turbo" by Tina is now whirring away merrily once
more. Air seems to have cleared now and blue skies have
returned.
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