sy Timoneer

Noon Position 25deg 15N 16deg  07W

Course – 033 Degrees   Speed –  12.4  Knots        Day’s Run – 265  Miles

Weather –  Sunny and smooth

Wind – 13 from SSW

Today’s News

The last 24 hours we have seen high flying dolphins, whales and beautiful conditions. We are unsurewhat type of whale it was, maybe a Sei, but we followed it for a while snapping photos. We have also had plenty of shipping in sight as everyone is converging on the corner of Africa. We had a stunning sunset last night with oily calm seas, the first one we have seen on the whole trip where  there were no clouds blocking it. A near full moon lit up the night with no clouds in the sky and this morning the wind started to fill in behind us giving us a nice push. We are motor sailing with main, mizzen and genoa. With just over 250 miles to go we should arrive in Lanzarote around midday tomorrow.

JC

Noon Position 21deg 20N 18deg  15W

Course – 022 Degrees   Speed – 10.5   Knots        Day’s Run -260  Miles

Weather –   Sunny and flat seas

Wind – 3 knots from E

Today’s News

Yesterday the seas finally flattened enough for us to use the washing machines for the first time since leaving Brazil. Tom’s engine room was spared from having hand washed underwear hanging out to dry. We are only a couple of days from the full moon and it was very light during the night making the night watches more enjoyable.  This morning we finally got the conditions we had been expecting for a lot of the trip, flat seas with light wind and sunny, but never got. We are all enjoying the calm conditions. Still no tuna.

JC

Noon Position 17deg 19N 19deg  55W

Course – 20 Degrees   Speed –  10.3  Knots        Day’s Run -234   Miles

Weather –   High cloud and 6′ (2m) swells

Wind – 13 knots on the nose

Today’s News

Yesterday afternoon we were treated to the close up sighting of a Sperm whale. We stopped about a boat length from it and observed it for a few minutes before it dived. This is another one to add to list of the many varieties of whales and dolphins we have seen in the last year.

After lunch we had a Man Over Board drill and the fishing lines were brought in and no one thought to put them out again after the drill, so no tuna yet.

Last night the swells picked up again and we had a slow bumpy night. This morning the seas have flattened a lot but now we are starting to get patches of current against us at times. As long as nothing nasty pops up in the weather we should make it to Lanzarote Monday afternoon.

JC

Noon Position 13deg 44N 21deg 26 W

Course – 17 Degrees   Speed –  9.5  Knots        Day’s Run – 235  Miles

Weather –   High cloud and 10′ (3m) waves from N

Wind – 16 knots from NNE

Today’s News

The weather forecast has lead us astray and we have been contending with 15-20 knot winds on the nose and sizable swells, when there was nothing over 10 knots forecasted. This has slowed us down and made for a bumpy ride. This morning we had a good harvest of flying fish on the deck so instead of just throwing them back we decided to fillet them and fry them. Nothing like road kill for lunch. When prepared in a restaurant in the Caribbean they are great, but a lot of work to do it yourself. We have also put the fishing lines out in hope of catching some tuna.

The waves have started to settle down a bit. Lets hope they continue to flatten.

JC

Noon Position 10deg 04N 22deg 52 W

Course – 29 Degrees   Speed –  10.3  Knots        Day’s Run –  248 Miles

Weather –   Sunny with high clouds and 10′ (3m) swells from N

Wind – 14 knots on the nose

Today’s News

Yesterday afternoon something happened to the atmospheric conditions and suddenly we were hearing VHF conversations between ships and ports on the coast of Africa nearly 600 miles away. Normally VHF radios only go as far as line of sight between antennas. AIS (automated identification system) also works on VHF radio waves and we had ships marked all over the chart plotter. We are very close to the main shipping route between South America and Gibraltar. We also have oil tankers crossing our path heading between North America and oil rich West Africa.

Another thing happened yesterday, we got coated in red dust from the Sahara. Billions of cubic meters of Sahara sand crosses the Atlantic in the atmosphere each year. A lot of the sand in the Caribbean and Bahamascan be traced back to the Sahara.

We continue to motor in to 10 kt winds and swells using just the mizzen as a stabilizeras we are make steady progress towards Lanzarote.

JC

Noon Position 6deg 25N 24deg 46 W

Course -029  Degrees   Speed – 10.5   Knots        Day’s Run – 246  Miles

Weather –  High cloud and 10′ (3m) swells from N

Wind – 9 knots from N

Today’s News

It has been a fairly uneventful 24 hours. The rain squalls finally stopped last night  and the moon came out. This morning it has been mostly sunny. Unfortunately the wind and swell on the nose both increased during the night slowing us down. We have been bouncing along between 9-10 knots.

We are eating lots of fish so that we can continue fishing and try a get a tuna. Last night we had sashimi Wahoo afternoon snack followed by crumbed Wahoo and chips for dinner and today we are having smoked Wahoo salad for lunch. Penny does spoil us.

JC

Noon Position 002deg 53N 26deg 49 W

Course – 029 Degrees   Speed –   10 Knots        Day’s Run – 248  Miles

Weather –   Overcast with passing rain squalls and 6-10′ (2-3m) swells on the nose

Wind – 6 knots from N

Today’s News

Yesterday, not only did we complete a third of the distance to Lanzarote, we also crossed the equator and are back in the Northern hemisphere after 5 months in the Southern. In following the tradition of sailors from years gone by, anyone who has not sailed across the equator before must be judged in front of Neptune’s court and punished accordingly before entering into the domain of those who have. This crossing it was only Matt, our delivery crew member, who knelt before Neptune (Me in disguise) to be dealt some harmless, amusing punishments by the rest of the crew before being presented his equator crossing certificate.

Through the night and this morning light winds on the nose and rain squalls have continued to be the norm. This morning Penny talked of getting fish out of the freezer for dinner. This is normally the best way to guarantee we catch a fish and sure enough we got a fish. This time it was a Wahoo, a fantastic eating fish with firm white flesh and also good for sushi. We are all looking forward to dinner tonight, even more so than usual.

Tuna is definitely off the menu for a few days as we just caught another fish, a 4 foot Wahoo and the freezers are now officially full until we eat some. So no more fishing.

JC

Noon Position 0deg 45S 28deg 45 W

Course – 029 Degrees   Speed –  10.3  Knots        Day’s Run – 252  Miles

Weather –  Squalls and 6-10 foot (2-3m) swells on the nose.

Wind – 4 knots from ESE

Today’s News

Soon after lunch yesterday the wind came up again and so we put away the fishing lines and unfurled the genoa. Last night we got lots of squalls again and the wind turned on the nose. There were also some good lightening shows. We have been motoring ever since. The forecast is for these conditions to continue for2 days and so we have altered course further North to give us a better wind angle to sail when the wind turns in 2-3 days time. We have had the fishing lines out all morning but no luck yet, just one that got away.

We are now less than 50 miles from crossing the equator.

JC

Noon Position 4deg 10S 31deg  10W

Course – 037 Degrees   Speed –  11  Knots        Day’s Run – 268  Miles

Weather –   Overcast and slight seas

Wind – 9 knots from E

Today’s News

The weather has kept us on our toes over the last 24 hours. We have had plenty of rain squalls bringing wind change in both strength and direction. We have been motor sailing and making good progress. Yesterday we saw 2 small whales which we think might have been long fin pilot whales. They were just lazing on the surface moving very little.

This morning, with the lighter winds, we put out the fishing lines in hope of some sushi. We still have a huge amount of Mahi-mahi so hopefully we wont catch another. Bring on a tuna.

JC

Noon Position 7deg 48S 33deg  45W

Course – 035 Degrees   Speed – 10.9   Knots        Day’s Run – 270  Miles

Weather –   Squalls with 6-10′ (2-3m) seas

Wind – 15 knots from E

Today’s News

We had a great sail yesterday afternoon with the main and genoa reaching speedsup to 13.5 knots. At sunset we put 2 reefs in the main and use the staysail instead of the genoa, as there was lightning on the horizon. As the night went on we got rain squalls which forced us to run with them as the winds were strong and there was also a lot of lightning making for a fairly wild and exciting night.

Sunrise has brought less squalls but the wind angle is less favorable causing us to use the engine. At the moment we are trying to conserve fuel as the last 4 days of the trip up the coast of Africa has current against us and the predominant wind is also against us. It is a very fine balancing act of the time we have to get to Palma and the amount of fuel we have.

JC