Today has been quite uneventful but thankfully the steady winds have allowed us to lash the helm with a sail-tie and get the boat to self-steer for a while. It has been over an hour since we have touched the wheel, which is a great relief 15 days after the autopilot motor burned out! The wind is forecast to back overnight so that by tomorrow we should be reaching or running and the sail-tie trick will no longer work in those conditions, but while we are beating we are making the most of it!
Yesterday the wind was a very steady 14 or 15 knots which gradually veered from NNE to NE overnight. This put us on an upwind heading but as the conditions are mild and we know that the wind is set to back again all the way through N to W and then SW very soon, we are taking this temporary beat in our stride.
The night was completely overcast and by 03H00 the wind had dropped to under 10 knots. Phillippa shook out the reef before waking me at sunrise.
It was during my morning watch that I noticed that the full sail combination upwind gave a very steady feel to the helm so I quickly lashed the wheel and have since left the boat to fend for itself. We have been making a really good course and speed since then!
The wind is back up to 14 or 15 knots again and is still in the NE but ahead of us is a clear patch of sky which may herald the centre line of the high pressure ridge and the beginning of the backing wind. After that we expect reaching and running conditions all the way to Cape Town, but with a possibility of one or two light weather patches that could still mess with our schedule. ETA is still Friday evening.
Sea life has remained consistent for the past few days. One new visitor not yet mentioned is a Sooty albatross, an almost uniformly dark coloured version of these birds. The Sooty albatross comes in two varieties, the Light-mantled and the Dark-mantled. It can be difficult to tell them apart at sea.
Yesterday the wind was a very steady 14 or 15 knots which gradually veered from NNE to NE overnight. This put us on an upwind heading but as the conditions are mild and we know that the wind is set to back again all the way through N to W and then SW very soon, we are taking this temporary beat in our stride.
The night was completely overcast and by 03H00 the wind had dropped to under 10 knots. Phillippa shook out the reef before waking me at sunrise.
It was during my morning watch that I noticed that the full sail combination upwind gave a very steady feel to the helm so I quickly lashed the wheel and have since left the boat to fend for itself. We have been making a really good course and speed since then!
The wind is back up to 14 or 15 knots again and is still in the NE but ahead of us is a clear patch of sky which may herald the centre line of the high pressure ridge and the beginning of the backing wind. After that we expect reaching and running conditions all the way to Cape Town, but with a possibility of one or two light weather patches that could still mess with our schedule. ETA is still Friday evening.
Sea life has remained consistent for the past few days. One new visitor not yet mentioned is a Sooty albatross, an almost uniformly dark coloured version of these birds. The Sooty albatross comes in two varieties, the Light-mantled and the Dark-mantled. It can be difficult to tell them apart at sea.
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