Sailing at last.

22/6 16.30. Yuck. Wind almost completely died and boat rolling in the swell. Sails slatting away horribly so took in 2 reefs in the main, rolled up the jib and sheeted in staysail. Quieter now but still rolling. Speed under 1kt. Aint gonna let me go easy, is it.

18.40. Wing and wing again. Still rolling like a fairground ride. Not very nice. First one way, the mainsail will loose the wind and crack! as it fills again then same thing happens the the jib as the boat rolls the other way. This happens every few seconds continually. But it´s either that or take them down and still roll but go nowhere. Boat speed 2kt, not going anywhere very fast but at least moving.

19.00. Enough, can´t take that anymore. Jib rolled nearly all the way in and sheeted tight, main sheeted in tight with 2 reefs. Gps shows less than 1kt, adverse current. Wonderful. Just what I need.

23rd June 2010. 34d 27n 60deg 26w. Pressure 1023.
04.00. At last, doing what the boat was made to do. Sailing. 6Kt apparent wind from west. Just tacked the headsail, the rolling was too much. With the sails both out on the same side of the boat the rolling is still there but much less. Now sailing course 030deg but that pesky current pushing the course round to 010 and losing 0.5kt boatspeed. The pilot charts show some eddies in the current around here but couple of degrees further north shopuld be back in the east setting current of at least 0.5kt all the way to the Azores. But still doing 4kt over the ground in the right direction so a happy crew onboard this morning. Back to bed it is then, one that isn´t rolling around quite so much. :) :)

09.00 Now we´re rockin! Wing and wing again but not rolling quite so bad. 5kt plus boat speed & gps so current calmed down for the moment. Seas seem tiny bit less, maybe due to less wind over current. It the wind blows in oppisite direction to the current or tide the sea can get really annoyed and choppy. Course just over 50deg true. Todays thinking is get up to about 38N and turn right there, head due east towards Flores in Azores. Only another 1450 miles to go. Done 1205 miles so far though rather slowly. Boat sailing nice and quiet now with more wind in the sails. Apart from Neil Young blasting out of the speakers of course :)

12.00 June 2010 34deg 57N 60deg 02W. Water temp 25deg C, air temp 24deg C Pressure 1023
Days run 85 Nm, but 75 on the log so overall some help from the current. Cloudy now and even some very light rain. Almost chilly after so long in the tropics. Sailing nicely though still rolling but there you go, you can´t have everything.

15.30  Look at that!! Sitting at 7.5kts. Hit over 8 a moment ago, go, girl, go!  Dead downwind at 60deg.