can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Andromeda of Plymouth - I can see clearly now and I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles.......



N37:09:879  W42:45:600
Boat miles:- 1115.6
Miles to go:- 676.4
 
A quiet and light winds night. Well some mornings are just magical and the clarity this morning was stunning - no haze, no rain, no cloud, just the far horizon and we could see for miles and miles. And there was no-one else out here we could see, though there may be some folks just over the horizon. Indeed we know Aditi, an ARC 2013 boat, are some 200 miles ahead of us and should be in Horta early next week.This view of the horizon is a very stark contrast to the closed in and very dark nights we had during the two recent storms!
 
There are lots of things to be viewed closely, but equally on a clear day or night there are lots of things best viewed from afar - lightning, squalls, cumulonimbus, big commercial ships of which we are very wary of course, but also moon rises, and sets, sunrises and sunsets and the colours on the sea created by these events. Wonderful. So a day of far horizon's for the time being, but there are some showers, squalls and big winds forecast for Monday - we'll be well reefed down this time a little more prepared for these atlantic squalls.
 
Gremlins! Yes the dreaded word, at least not quite as feared as cockroaches, the gremlins have arrived somehow over the past day or so. The Inverter, working all the way to Bermuda, has given up the ghost. The wind indicator is not providing anything like an accurate view - it can't be 3.6kts all the time - the masthead unit was replaced last year in Trinidad, and a repeater unit that provides Course over Ground  - useful to confirm where you think you are going, has given up as well. In addition we suspect Gremlins are at work with the GPS system - the one Uncle Sam runs - on several occasions over the past few days the GPS no longer displays lattitude and longitude. On both the fixed and handheld GPS units there is no sign of the satellites, though we know they are up there. After about 10 minutes or so normal service is resumed. All the GPS units say is that there is poor satellite reception. We don't necessarily think it us (but of course it could be) given both fixed and handheld behave the same way, but it could just be that this is an area of ocean not best covered. This would seem strange however given this is the route across the atlantic for yachts coming from the Caribbean, US, Canada and Bermuda etc. All very strange. Any bright ideas most welcome. And if anyone has a matter transporter (Scottie are you there?) can they beam the Gremlins off the boat - they've not been fed as far as we know!
 
More in due course......nice winds at the moment but can't lay a direct course so are gybing across the rum line every couple of hourse to make some head way and not disappear to far away from where we want to be.
 
Andrew & Susan
S/V Andromeda


Previous | Next