Nearly Half Way
Rik
Mon 25 Sep 2023 12:38
Day three of our five/six day passage to Gran Canaria, we are making good progress and are now nearly half way,unfortunately nearly all under engine. We currently have just a few knots of wind from behind. We had a nice spell of motor sailing yesterday and we’re able to drop the engine revs for a few hours. However by the time my watch started at eleven o’clock we had to drop the mainsail again.
We have headed further offshore in the hope of finding a bit more wind but it looks like it’s now not coming till later, so we are now pointing straight at the Canaries again, mainly because it’s more comfortable on this still considerable swell.
We were just visited by a pod of about twenty bottle nose dolphins who swam with us for about half an hour, they are such fun to watch.
This picture somehow escaped yesterdays blog
You won’t be surprised to hear we had tuna for dinner again yesterday. We have eaten nearly all the tuna we didn’t freeze so I think we might have some meat tonight. We do still have many kilos of tuna in the freezer.
I am no on watch, listening to Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, which combined with the view and the motion of the swell is very very relaxing.
There is less commercial traffic out here making the night watches easier, however they seem to go slower with no ships to avoid. This pic is looking over fifty miles ahead, we have no company, just the Crown Ruby behind us, a 152 metre cargo ship that will pass no closer than 19 miles. We probably won’t even see her.