Day Two
Tripled
Thu 9 Jun 2011 06:11
first waypoint in our first 24 hours - not bad going!! It was grey and
cloudy with 15 + knot winds from behind and we zoomed forwards all morning
and early afternoon. With Andy at the helm we were surfing down the waves -
his top speed so far is 9.4 knots and he is hoping to get to 10 before the
trip is over! The seas actually began quite calm but gradually built up as
the day continued.
In the afternoon the wind swung round dramatically and we now have 15 knots
of northerlies. We were expecting this, just not quite so soon. We have
borne off and are sailing on a course of about 60 degrees, but do not want
to go too far east just yet as there is a big low with nasty head-winds
circling to the east of us. So if the wind backs any more then it will be
engine on so we can motor-sail closer to the wind. The forecast is for the
low to move away as we come into some light winds and high pressure, before
strong south-westerlies fill in to make us fly towards the Channel.
Perfect!!
Aside from Andy's helming, James spent a lot of the day asleep having
extremely vivid dreams, an effect of the patch as Jilli well knows! A few
dolphins came to visit us today, having a great old time jumping right out
of the water. They were quite small but the first James had ever seen so
that was good news. I had pre-cooked a chilli for today's dinner. This was
under a lot of pressure as both Andy and James are very good cooks who were
surprised that I put jam in it and kept going on about dark chocolate....
Now I'm sure my dish would in no way measure up to theirs but I must say all
the bowls were scraped clean by the end of dinner!! We also ate mashed sweet
potatoes, which although a strange green colour, were delicious.
I am writing this at 1am and the stars have just come out in the last hour,
with a half-moon playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds. The sky is quite
interesting tonight - to the east and south of us the horizon is extremely
dark and menacing (where the low is) but ahead and to the west the clouds
become lighter and fluffier, and we can see stars. Fingers crossed this
means good weather tomorrow!
For those of you at home, we also send this blog onto our friends who are
currently mid-ocean/still on the other side of the world. Congratulations to
'Stella' who are now past the half-way mark between Bermuda and the Azores! p os 41 45N 024 36W