After the social whirl, photographers, journalists, and music on the quay at Las Palmas, a long sojurn across the Atlantic is a wonderful tonic. Wind Horse and her crew are settling into a comfortable seagoing routine and we are catching up on our sleep.
Crossing an ocean on a motor yacht like Wind Horse is similar to what we were used to under sail. The sail handling is missing, of course, but the rest of the routine remains the same. With just two of us aboard we stand three hour watches at night, with no formal system during the day.
We love the feeling of a yacht moving across the sea and this remains much the same under power, except there is less motion and no heel. And when you have a full moon setting and spectacular sunrise the same morning it makes no difference what sort of boat you are aboard, just so long as you are there to experience the thrill.
Meals have always been a focus. Tonight, for example, roast beef, baked potatoes, asparagus, and fresh fruit were on the menu.
We spend a considerable amount of time on our weather routing. Where before we were looking for pressure and angle for speed, now we hunt comfort, unless strong running conditions are available with which to surf (which we still very much enjoy).
The ability to maintain eleven knots,upwind and down,does make routing easier. We use Nick White's "Expedition" software for GRIB analysis. Our performance polars are very flat, with just a few percent difference in boat speed between beating and running. Expedition allows us to play "what if" games with timing and course to hit our objectives.
This passage is shaping up to be one of the more difficult routing wise with the approaching trough and its associated headwinds What we are trying to do is minimize the velocity of winds we face without adding excessively to the distance from the great circle course. The weather faxes from NMG in New Orleans coupled with the GFS grib weather files, give us plenty of data, but there are no simple choices. The best tactic right now appears to be getting west quickly, before the trough deepens. With 265 nautical miles a day slipping under the keel it remains to be seen if we are using the best tactics.
Last night there was a thump around 0230 and the starboard engine began to labor. A quick check of fuel filter vacuum gauges, throttle linkage, and engine filters indicated the problem was probably at the propeller. We backed down and cleared whatever was causing the problem. We do seem to be tangling with more debris these days, and are appreciative of the watertight bukheads, stout construction, and double bottom with which we are cruising now.
We'll sign off with another note of appreciation, this one to Andrew Bishop for inviting us to join the 25th ARC and Sue Grant at Berthon's for first suggesting this as a way to get back to the States. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Las Palmas, and getting to know the ARC crew, as well as making numerous new friendships in the cruising fleet.
Linda and Steve Dashew
ARC-2010-Passage-3-320-2192