Wednesday 09 05 2012
14:27 UTC 10:27 Local
26 13.24 N
64 34.22 W
Heading 9 degres
Speed 5.2 kts
The wind is still not here and according to
forecasts from both Chris and my friend PYC, who are experienced transatlantic
skippers with dozens of crossings from E to W or W to E, this may stay for a bit
more.
The wind should be here on the 10th or
11th.
It is a bit like the "Tomorrow we shave for free"
poster one could see in French barber's shop when they existed. You came the
following day, asked for the free shave and were shown the poster
...
We are now in the second half of the BVI to Bermuda
passage and according to the MaxSea software on the Furuno NavNet we have 365
miles to run, about 3 days at 5 kts.But, as
indicated on the disclaimer of welcome screen of the Navnet when it is swiched
on, "this is only an aid to navigation". So it is only indicative as the past
days proved.
Well, we still have some fuel left in tanks and in
jerrycans to wait for the wind but not much.
What is interesting is that when I did some home
work and web browsing to set up a passage plan to Bermuda, most of the blogs and
reports I came across mentioned lack of wind for days and suggested to carry as
much fuel as possible.
May be people don't report smooth and conventional
crossings but it proves that the Pilot Charts indications with SE prevailing
winds are a far cry from being God's spell. ("Poor, poor Joseph, what we gonna
do?")
Jimmy Cornnell's last book, which he co-authored
with his son, may be be more reliable but I have not seen it so far. Will have a
look when back in France.
Would be fine to catch some fish too but there are
so many weeds floating around that 20' after puting the line in the water we
have to take it out and clean it. It's like landing Tina Turner's wig
everytime!
You do this 2 or 3 times and then you stop fishing.
Frustrating.
Hopefully we won't die from starvation, we have
enough food for a month at least and as Darren is very good at fixing
breakfeast, Ian is a great cook with enough creativity to exploit all that we
have in store, from pasta and rice to fruits and whipped cream ...
Not having wind, Barry (our Hydrovane) has been
turned off and it's rudder removed to avoid any drag effect. We kept it for only
a couple of hours just after leaving the BVI and it was doing well keeping the
boat on the line and sparing electricity.
It should be back for the Bermuda to Azore crossing
... if we have wind ...
Today we had a visitor, not a cargo ship but a
bird.
It flies from aft on the starbord side then 'lands'
just ahead of the bow on port side and waits for the boat to pass by until it is
50 yards behind us. Then it 'takes off' and does this circling again and
again.
There might be a resaon for this bird doing this.
May be it is just playing or it is a savvy bird just waiting for food to be
thrown away from the boat. We will never know.
Crew here: I am fast running out of books to read
so I am just praying that there might be a floating book shop with a bar and a
swimming pool attached! Not sure if they exist but they sound like a damn good
idea!! :)