The North East Trades
06 November 2017 | 1035 Miles to Hierro
6:00pm Monday 6th November 2017 ( UTC-2 ) Yes we are definitely established in the North East Trades with no danger of being overtaken by the dreaded blue clag. The gentle breeze through last night became more solid this morning requiring one then two reefs in the main. Having nothing better to do these went in as the breeze dropped and out when it increased which was rather silly so common sense prevailed and we're snugged down for the night double reefed. The constant breeze last night reenergised the Silentwind generator which had been taking a long holiday since The Cape and was happily pumping out the amps at dawn. Accordingly the desalinator was started and operated continuously till 5:00pm and though it's a little hard to tell, with the heel of the boat often around thirty degrees, the Starboard tank of 150 litres is almost full and the Port tank of 80 litres is pressed up. Interestingly after half an hour of bypassing overboard the water still tasted just a little salty but by the end of the day sweet as. Alt hough Hierro is only a thousand miles away it is directly upwind so even though we are making just on 6 knots through the water, each day, hopefully, will see us just 100 miles closer due to the angle of the tack. I have the little hatch in the shower open which allows in a little breeze and sometimes a lot of water so timing must be precise.