Atlantic Crossing Part II

Boxing Day

“BUGGAAAAARRRR!!!
Yes the inevitable has happened. We have a forecast of less than 12 knots for the next five days all downwind and the Auto Pilot is playing merry (xmas) hell! It is currently having spack attacks where it wiggles the wheel left and right repetitively and continues to do so until we turn it off, hand steer for an hour or two then turn it on again and its sort of right then for a little while but seems to be getting worse each time. Hmmmmm. 1450 miles to go.”



“the autopilot has blown up and we have nothing but light winds in the offing, spent all day today in the engine room which was a bit warm.....found a capacitor that had a loose connection and I think I cooked it trying to solder it back in because its even worse now. We have turned to the windvane and with some pretty unorthodox additions its working ok, a bit woobly but it sure beats hand steering. Tonight Herb talked about a potential low forming near us that we might have to dodge but we are in a good position to do so. 15degN 35deg30W”



27 December

“Sailing has been a mixed bag, lots of light airs, got the wind vane working pretty well in all conditions except a broad reach with the MPS and the main up, drop the main and its fine, which is what we were doing tonight when the kite halyard broke, kite in the water - good fun and I stubbed my little toe, looks like PC will claim another of my toe nails (the 2nd!). Position at 2000 UTC 15N 40W getting there but slowly.”

29 December

“ much better spirits today. No wind overnight so motored whilst hand steering lying flat on my back on the cockpit seat steering by the stars. We have been studying up on the night sky and are becoming quite familiar whilst listening to some tunes on headphones, changed watches and at 0900Z woke up to find Patti in a bikini wildly dancing in the cockpit to some house music I couldn't hear! Went up the mast after breakfast, and re ran the kite halyard what a roller coaster ride that was! Now have a bit of breeze and are rolling towards Barbados at 4.5 knots. Only did 104 miles in the last 24 hrs. There is a bit of an unusual low forming about 300 miles behind us but its going the other way and is only supposed to last a couple of days then peter out, our forecast is for light winds today and tomorrow with trades rebuilding on Sat. Current Position 14.46N 41.10W (1200 UTC 29Dec)”

30 December

“We past the half way point about 10 mins ago! PC is right now over 1000 miles from the nearest land, apart from the land 5km below us that is!”



“caught a small wahoo today (lost a big one) - thats a first and very tasty too. Started today with a quick trip up the mast (again) to fix tri light. this time I wore a puffer jacket for protection much better but a bit sweaty! Got a bit more breeze now 12-15 knots NE. Tropical storm Zeta has developed back to the East of us but is not expected to effect us other than a bit more swell., Zeta will go in the Guinness Book of Records as the latest ever tropical storm in the Atlantic so we are told. Position at 2200 UTC 30Dec - 44.46N 44.07W”