Blog 18th June
Nightsong
Fri 18 Jun 2010 12:13
|
Dear Blog
Midday position 41.18N 18.22W
A great daily run of 154 miles, admittedly all
but 4 hours motorsailing but then needs must - to get in as fast as
possible. The wind has now gone to the north and freed me (great circle course
now 70degrees or ENE) but actually it makes keeping the boat on course much
harder. One has to get the balance of the sails right and the torque from the
prop and the trouble is the wind keeps on changing in strength which mucks it
all up. Still I managed to snatch about 3 hours sleep last night in between
course and Master Commander alarms and without the boat going more than 25
degrees off course. I have been steering her much more today than I did
yesterday to keep us on track.- Gosh steering a compass course with nothing
to aim for apart from that illusory stationary cloud is
BORING
 Talking of which you will see that I am about 45nm
north of the rhumb line - this is to counter the likely adverse winds close to
Cape Finisterre and to compensate for the Portuguese southerly current which
runs down that whole coast. The wiggly track shows how many times I had to
tack for the first 2 days- the advantage of self tackers!
Spirits high since I will be half way there at 1600
hrs today and now hope to be in by Monday afternoon - so only 3 more nights at
sea. Currently reaching at 7.3 knots in a 10 knot true wind, 14.5 knot
apparent and no engine. Oh joy! Funny how I got bored with running in the
ARC and bored of beating most of the way home!!
AJB 18th June 2010
|