As the ARC Europe yachts straddle the halfway mark on this 1800NM leg to the Azores, and on what is now 'Day 6' the crews will be well settled into their life onboard - a schedule of eating, sleeping and going on watch! There have been a good number of blogs coming in from the boats at sea which offers a great real time insight into what adventures they are all up to mid-Atlantic.
The first half of the crossing has been pretty lively as the fleet caught the tail end of a deep low centered to the north east. Ximera reporting cracking sailing on day 4 in "weather, but not quite heavy" with reefed main and headsails chugging along at the magic 8.3 knots - this gives you 200 miles a day! Adagio commented in their blog, "I believe this is the longest single leg that we've ever taken Adagio on without turning on the motor. Even if you factor in the fuel used for the battery-charging generator, it still works out to some amazing miles-per-gallon! Indeed, a clean wake and a green sport is what we'd hoped for. was pleased to be running a 'green' vessel with no engine hours."
With several boats setting their own records for distance run in 24hrs it is great to see their progress across the North Atlantic. The Yellowbrick GPS tracker onboard each boat is set to update every 4 hours.
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After the boisterous sailing though there might be a welcome 'rest' as an area of High pressure establishes itself and the fleet may experience lighter winds and more settled seas for a day or two. The high is going to get a bit squeezed and the weather then really depends on the progression of the next low, which will have started out life coming off the US mainland and will track across the Atlantic towards Europe.
In other news the smallest yacht 'Blue Mist' is still making some great progress having set off from Portsmouth and is sailing direct to the Azores. 'Second Wind' have got their penguin walk around deck perfected and 'Tinia' landed a nice tuna which perked up the crew - read more of the blogs by clicking here.