Yacht Cerulean Atlantic Adventure

Trip:786 Distance to Waypoint 1088; Bearing to Waypoint 072deg 35deg 03'.052N 050deg 29'.031W COG: 090 SOG:6.5 Wind SW f4

Boat time 05:43 (UT-3)

Windy nights

Its dawn here the sun has just risen.

We are steadily making progress eastwards. The wind is variable in direction and speed, nominally SW force 4, but gusting up to force 5 occasionally force 6 a 'strong breeze' from SW to WSW Wave height varying from 2-3m slight to moderate;

This all makes it difficult to maintain our course which is nominally NE, on a run with the headsail poled out to windward we are a bit too high, and on a broad reach we are a bit too low. so have been alternating between the two. If you have been following our course on the map it probably looks a wibbly wobbly, which is how I feel at the moment.

It was quite bumpy overnight on Alison's watch Midnight til 04:00 with winds gusting up to 28kts and heavy sea running, it has calmed down a bit now. We are now heading 087 deg, due east for a while on a broad reach, this is to keep us just below a line of fronts that are passing through to the north of us. We are heading for a noon (UT) waypoint at 35deg 05'N and 049deg 30'W its about 46nm from us bearing 087deg then we have anither for the next day 120nm to the NE of that position to take us above the high forming to the south.

I think e=we are on day 8 now, and expect to arrive Horta somewhere between the 20th and 23rd May.

Routine normal 4 hours on 4 hours off.

At supper time we spend sometime together for supper and watch a movie, Mumma Mia the other night and Harry Potter last night, these movies because, Mumma Mia was the quiz round from Emotion to us yesterday at noon and today we challenge the children on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Its a bit of fun, gives us all something to focus on and look forward to.

We are keeping up with Emotion, just about, they slow down now and then for us too catch up, and visa versa, it is difficult to match speed and course, we can not always see them by eye, as they are often just over the horizon which is about 2.5miles, sometimes we loose their AIS signal may be over 5 miles as well, but VHF range is probably 25 miles.

There is not much other traffic about a ship passed 2 miles behind us yesterday, the first one I have seen for days.

We would be quite alone out here 800miles from anywhere if it were not for SY Emotion, it is nice sail in company with a yacht of a similar speed. We can discuss the weather,as us British like to do, and all yachtsmen do as a necessity. and we compare weather forecast and the grib files we download via the sat phone or SSB Modem. Alison's brother Richard, the Admiral, sends us a weather forecast once a day with some routing advice, and SY Emotion has a weather router as well. Grib files are small data files we can download via sat phone or SSB which have a map indicating wind speed and direction along our route with this we can plan our route to make the best of the weather and keep out of the worst of it. So far it is working very well and the different forecasts, in general concur with each other, or there abouts, which is good and reassuring

Richard and Alison yacht Cerulean of Penryn

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