DAY 2 - cutting the engines

Ugcxatlantic
Sat 22 Nov 2008 12:46
25:27.50N 17:30.60W
Saturday 11 am
Course 240 degree. Speed 6 knots
We have made 170 nm since we left Puerto Rico in Gran Canaries 24
hours ago. As expected we faced only a light breeze at 5-8 knots, in fact
not enough to carry a 15 tons vessel forward at satisfactory speed. We
have therefore been motoring at 8 knots in order to make a
good advance southward. We cut the engines at 9 am this morning. A
tailwind of 10 -12 knots is now pushing us forward with 5-6 knots boat
speed. Overall a good start, important to get south and search for the desired
trade winds that will bring us towards west without falling into any
doldrums (no-wind area)..
Logistics (electric and fuel).
We carry 500 ltr diesel, of which we will need around 150 ltr for charging
batteries underway. We probably burned not less than 150 ltrs only last
night so the balance is easy to calculate, - will be considered for
careful use later if we should need it. Autopilot, fridge, radar
and watermaker, all suck a lot of ampere from the batteries, more than
we produce from the 4.5 m2 solar cell panels installed as our bimini. The
sun is effective 8-9 hours a day considering that we have 12 hours daylight only
(and 12 hours dark). Of course instruments and other el-consumers will be used
with care but they are all critical, specially the use of autopilot at
night means improved safety.
During the first days the body needs to adjust to the new environment
- rolling, with no solid ground under the feet, We therefore decided to go
easy on the eating Day 1 no heavy meals but rather stick
to sandwiches and ensure that we consume plenty of water. This may help us
avoid nausea and vomiting from sea sickness. We have brought food for
25 days (5 days more than expected time in open sea).The food 'reservoir'
contains fresh meat and bread and 'gourmet additional' for the first week,
but then later onto a variety of Italian pastas, can food, soups
and fresh bread baked onboard. The bonus is; we have purchased nice fishing
equipment for big-fish catches. Will see later how that will match our 'fishing
luck'...
The night was cold during the watches at the helm, happy to bring the
long underpants along (to Caribbean?), better safe than sorry. It is quite
a big temperature difference from midday to night but we expect this to ease
every day as we are heading south. Our first sunrise was beautiful and
we shared it jointly with some 30-40 dolphins - we tried to catch them in
the camera lenses but unfortunately they got away. Surely, we will catch up
later.....
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