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Ceilidh of Lorne - Having a whale of a time!



Morning sailors!
 
A cracking day of ARC weather and progress to report.
 
We have racked up 190NM as our days run on Ceilidh although this is not the rhumb line route to St Lucia.
 
We have continued South on a course of 220M as we head towards the Cape Verde islands and are currently approximately 100NM offshore from Mauritania.
 
We continue to have steering issues with slippage when we have 25knots of wind with swell so we have maintained 2 reefs in the main and continue to hand steer most of the time.
 
This gives us more options to pick up the steadier trade winds which blow in the Southern latitudes although we may start heading West later today as the NE4/5 is forecast to fill in further West of our current position.
 
Some of our armchair navigators have been concerned at our inability to “turn right” and head West, don’t worry we will soon!
 
The weather has been bright sun and clear skies over the last 24 hours with the Mercury climbing to the high 20’s in the daytime.
 
Should be just about safe to put away the thermals and heavy weather oilies soon.
 
We were visited by a fairly large Pilot whale ( I think)  just after breakfast which was around 50metres off the port side, exciting to see this so close up.
 
As it had all been hectic until recently I did not get time to list all the tasks we completed in Las Palmas before we set sail, so here we go:
 
Starboard lower shroud replaced
Mast wedges replaced ( the forward wedge was again replaced and glued in place at sea yesterday using rope tensioned around the base of the mast to assist).
Steering chain replaced and steering control system aligned.
Genoa repaired and panels replaced.
Stores for 3 weeks purchased.
Cockpit speakers replaced- crew morale booster.
Generator and engine serviced.
Spare parts received from Hanse UK
Lewmar site visit and spare winch control buttons received.
Lots of deep cleaning, laundry, rigging and chafing checks and a host of other minor jobs completed.
 
So on we go toward another bright horizon!
 
 
Dave Sturrock
 
 



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