38:36.9N
33:52.6W
1 June 2009, 250 miles to the Azores.
After the storm described
in the last blog we had a brief respite from the windy weather to recover
slightly. Then the next one hit –
the wind rose during the early morning of 29 June, rather later than we
expected. By 06.00h it was blowing
SSW 35+ knots and we were reefed down to No. 3 and a small genoa, but still
making 7.6 knots SOG. We noticed a
small tear in the leech of the main – not too worrying, but not good to have in
these conditions. By mid-morning we
stowed the main completely and continued with about a fifth of the genoa area –
still doing 7 knots in 35 to 40 knot winds. The log reads: George set at 45 degrees to swell –
Stable, All wet but comfortable (ish).
The wind soon decreased slightly and
veered to NW, then George (the Autohelm) started complaining, the message
was ‘Drive – Stop’, and it wouldn’t steer.
We fortunately had Maggie as backup, and she coped pretty well. Well we now had a torn main that we
couldn’t use, a broken autohelm, and were sailing with a scrap of genoa, being
steered by the hydrovane. Hey ho,
only another 540 miles to go!
The longer range
weather looked brisk but OK. We just needed to keep our speed up to stay with a
low pressure system, and if we could it would mean favourable NW winds at 15 to
25 knots – perfect in an imperfect situation. Some of the Log entries and
comments:
Still plodding on; Good progress, hope it lasts; Maggie doing OK;
Sun’s out, drying out; Two tweaks to Maggie; Boat has had a good wash; Lumpy, bumpy night; Just had e-mails from home, possibly
good news on George. Occasional
rolly phases and water over the decks and sploshes into the cockpit. You just get used to it – bang, crash,
splosh! Boat is pretty wet
throughout through us taking wet gear below and condensation around hatches
dripping, but no time or opportunity to clear up – and no point! This will be a memorable passage, but
not for its pleasure.
Dave: Magical 3 hours (4-7 pm) in cockpit. Enjoyed warmth from the sun after
another bouncy day. Sat and had
beer and a gin and tonic as Whitemeadow cavorted and twisted over the rollers
running parallel to the boat. (Skipper:
sounds like he was on holiday).
Pics: The lull before another storm.
Diesel getting low. Bread running out.
