Saturday 27th June 2015



It is 0440 in the morning and first day light. It has been an interesting night. Sailing has been good with the pressure filling in from the North West with approximately 15 knots. We made good progress to our destination in the SSW. Queenie is really jumping along despite having to work herself into the waves.



I am sitting at the navigation desk battling my sleepy feeling. Coffee in hand. I nip up to the cockpit from time to time. It is pretty chilly. Longing for the sun to warm up things. I cannot see Devon any more. It was so beautiful last evening with the light houses, hills, starry sky and a moon that made a street in the water; in Swedish we have the expression "a moon street".



The not so good news is that the generator has worked itself loose from its engine mounts and moved in its box. That caused one of the fan belts to shear and the generator stopped by the overheating alarm. I spoke to Anders. We will need new engine mounts which is likely to take some time to order and fit. It is a job for Lisbon,



Now we need to run the main engine instead to charge the batteries which takes longer time and is not fuel efficient. We charged the 24 volt system with 75 Amps instead of the 100 Amps with the generator despite running a 145hp engine compared to a 10 hp engine. I would reckon it takes 4 times more diesel. We also now need to try to conserve electricity as much as we can.



An Atlantic swell is rocking the boat. It is now 5am and I have switched off both navigation lights and radar. Time to write in the log and for another coffee and then it is only one hour before I go off watch!



Ulric Almqvist