BRIZO - Tuesday 8 January 2013

We have been underway for nearly three days and have been making very good progress toward St Helena. The wind strength and direction have been very favorable and we have been sailing directly to our destination at an average speed of over 8 kts. These conditions partially make up for all the times we've suffered the wind on our nose!

Our new autopilot drive has been working flawlessly, it is a direct replacement for the original hydraulic drive. The manufacturer claims reduced power consumption over the original model and based on our experience, it does the same job of steering the boat using approximately 25% less power. This is important since the autopilot is by far our largest user of power and this has resulted in not having to charge the batteries as often. We are now down to less than 2 charge cycles per day, an important fuel saver on these long passages.

Another acquisition for the boat in Cape Town was a new spinnaker from the Quantum loft. After much discussion among the crew we went with a solid red color and having hoisting it for the first time we can report that it is very large! We tried to use it as we sailed in the lee of Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years during apartheid) but the wind direction was not favorable. Based on the prevailing winds from St Helena to Brazil we expect to see a lot of the sail later on this leg.

Ship board life has settled into the usual routine with the exception of school work. After an extended Christmas break the girls are having a difficult time getting back to work but vacation will be over soon. One problem is that Lew did not bring back the correct materials from school when he was in Cleveland last month and the girls have run out of work in some subjects. He will be back at school in early February and has promised the girls not to make that mistake again!