DAY 23 - approaching land
Ugcxatlantic
Sat 13 Dec 2008 19:22
|
14:14.10N 60:17.80W
Saturday afternoon
The last few days we moved like a 'wind' (!!),
very encouraging compared to the mid section of this journey when we sometimes
struggled even to move. Logging 140 miles on Day 22 at steady wind
strength 15-22 kn, with some local squalls up to 25-30 kn, which has given
us overall a good boat speed (SOG) 6-7 knots. During the night we
held 7.5 - 8.3 kn for several hours. This is what we signed up for
!
We are now approaching the islands of Caribbean - we passed Barbados
70 miles to port (of course out of eye sight) and Grenada and Tobago are
further 100-120 miles south. Ahead of us, soon we may see the land of
Saint Lucia (where the ARC finish line is) which is 20 miles away in
the south-west, and Martinique should be coming up in the
north-west. Earlier we had considered as our target
destination either Tobago or Saint Lucia but rejected the alternatives due
to lack of appropriate diesel fuel tanking facilities. We need diesel
- first thing first!
The situation with the lack of water is
resolved. We have been busy today ripping the bunks apart and we
found a leak - a burst hose, we replaced the pipe and considered the
problem solved. However, the freshly produced water is still not
flowing into the tanks and we find again the same hose burst. Logically,
there is a non-desired build-up of pressure due to a blockage and our
search continues until we find a closed valve which should have been open,
consequently a 60 bar pressure against it and the weakest part in the chain
blows, of course. So seems we will be having our bath before Christmas
afterall....
Since the wind dropped during the day we are currently cruising
gently on a starboard tack with a moderate speed of 4-5 knots. Dark is
coming soon on this Saturday evening, the full moon however is very effective
and provides a nice 'flood light' enabling us to maneuver into the
shallow waters of Martinique after dark. We hope to see the contours of
land in the far distance before sunset and further approach our anchoring spot
at Martinique before midnight local time (CET -5 hrs).
This means another 40 miles to go westwards plus 4-5 miles
up north into a 'fjord' shaped bay just south of the populated town Fort de
France, searching for a suitable anchoring spot near some infrastructure
facilities. It seems we even may drop anchor before the pubs close. We are
happy and in fine mood, and we DO deserve a beer before the pub
close...
Last days log:
Day 22 140 nm
Day 21 131 nm
Day 20 137 nm
Day 19 127 nm
Day 18 151 nm
Day 17 119 nm
Day 16 96
nm
|