Week 1

Week 1

It doesn’t seem like 7 days ago that we left Las Palmas. Time has flown by and it’s surprised all of us that we’ve been sailing, non-stop, for 7 days.

When we left LP it was grey, cold(er), and the sea state was pretty rotten. Matters improved greatly, the wind behaved as predicted and the sea state improved markedly.

Looking back at the weather routing software that we occasionally use to discern a recommended route, it looks very similar to that which we’ve actually taken, driven purely by the direction of the wind rather than trying to follow the route.

We have now reached the 20° N 30° W target shown in the picture and from here it ought to be a straight passage W with what looks to be well established trade winds. This doesn’t happen every year, so despite the bumpy start, it looks like we’re going to be lucky with the balance of the passage.

Having reached 30° west, we have now moved the ship’s clock back one hour.

Last night, a very large NE swell affected us, and together with higher-than-expected winds it felt like we were travelling on the Disney runaway train! It was pitch black, and we were being thrown around from port to starboard with the boat heeling at 45° either way. It made sleeping extremely difficult (impossible), but boy did we bomb along, reaching upper speeds of 12.5 kns!

The day before had been spent fairly lazily, with Pete sorting out his photographs, Dennis and I reading, and generally relaxing.

We’ve had a few boat jobs, but I’m pleased to say that everything is holding up really well.

The safety rail on the binnacle needed to be tightened. The only way to do that was to remove the multifunction display, which revealed a birds nest of cables below it!

I have been really struggling with lots of creaking in the aft cabin. It was caused in part by the rudders and in part by the wooden supports for the bed rubbing on one another. It made for a grumpy skipper, who was seriously lacking in sleep, so we made a concerted effort to fix that. We were able to remove the rubber gators that protect the top of the rudder stocks and spray PTFE liquid down them, which lubricated them and resolved the squeaks. We fitted rubber strips to the bed support and I’m pleased to say that all is now quiet in the aft cabin – except for my snoring! It was hot and tiring work being thrown all over, but well worth it.

The picture shows how very little space is wasted on a boat. At the far side are lithium batteries and chargers. In the middle the stern thruster and closest to the camera the watermaker. The yellow bag at the back is the storm sail and the area in the middle is the rudder bracket linking both rudders together, hence being clear of anything else.

Dinner tonight was Spanish sausage stew, 5 beans and new potatoes. Having cleared the freezer of some space Captain Birdseye has declared he will be fishing again tomorrow!