It has been a few days since we last reported in. Quite a lot has happened since then. We have had strong winds and big seas and no wind or light wind situations with more of the latter. On Monday evening when we reported we were preparing for a big blow which came and lasted through into Tuesday (28th) evening. It was bumpy as the 20-25 knot wind brought with it big swells. There was a lot of banging as Lilli Mae went airborne over the swells.

Tuesday was much calmer. Good wind and nice sunny day. Probably our best sailing day of the trip so far. Yesterday and a little into today we have been chasing wind and we have been chased by light wind patches. Our track has been a bit erratic as we use the engine to find the wind when we are or becoming becalmed. Today has also been a combination of sailing and motor sailing.

In the 7 days we have been at sea we have covered over 1200 nm and we have about 770 nm to do. If we catch the low pressure sitting over the Azores then we should been by Tuesday or Wednesday (4/5th June) next week. Lilli Mae has covered over 2,200 nm since leaving Connecticut, US.

We thought it would to give an idea of what is it like on Lilli Mae at sea. We first thing you have to get used to is life at an angle of approximately 15 degrees!

Checkout the angle of the cooker the galley. Depending on which way the wind is coming over the boat determines if the fridge contents or all the coffee cups and plates tumble out when you open the door. Walking up to the high side is a workout!

At night and in the dark hours Lilli Mae has red lights in most areas below. We are running a 4 (hrs)-on 8-off watch pattern and so everyone is getting time to rest. When the red lights are on then often only one person is awake on watch.

c

On watch we are monitoring instruments and checking around for collision targets on the radar in addition to watching for wind changes. On the trip so far we have only ever seen 2 boats on radar. Yesterday we did get see another sailing boat on our starboard but they were about 6-8 miles away. As you can see there was nothing to report last night.

We have just had a “stop press” moment (at time of writing Thu 30th, 1441 UTC) at position 33 deg 21.4 N 042 deg 51.6 W. Just as we were about to tell you about our fishing success the “fish on” call came and we have just landed not 1 but 2 Wahoos. I am guessing fish is for dinner tonight! 

This morning we caught a small marlin which we sent back to the sea.

Yesterday we got a Yellow Fin which is in the freezer. We are definitely not short of fish this trip!