Day#13
Squall activity subsided, but we still had a couple overnight that we had to manoeuvre around. One got Russ and me wet (we were on watch 3am-6am), but nothing like the night before. We have also had no squalls during daylight hours today.
We had to turn the engine on for lack of wind early this morning, but it was back off after 2hours and we were sailing again in 8-10 knots on the beam. Just the kind of day Chloe loves, so she sprang into action and did a fantastic job of keeping the boat moving forward at a 6 knot average despite the winds running between 6 and 8 knots; very light. Finally, after about 50nm, the wind dropped to <4 knots, and even Chloe couldn't help out, so the engine is back on now.
The light wind sail presented a fishing opportunity that Harry cashed in on. Another Mahi 😋
And as we went on engine in calm seas, we executed our plan to fix the halyard that Jeremy broke a few days a
go...
The plan, which saw me going up the mast, was good but had mixed results. The weighted line went into the mast, but failed to emerge at the bottom so we don't know where it went. I was reluctant to stay up there too long with the boat rolling in swell, so we have to call that a fail. We did however work out that we can use Chloe's halyard to fly Jeremy (and hope he doesn't break that one too!). This means we won't need to go up the mast again until safely in St. Lucia.
We completed 163nm in the 24 hour period to 1pm today for a total sailed distance of 2038nm. The straight line distance to St. Lucia is now 844nm... This is an interesting number because the weather forecast right now is showing that there is almost no wind expected for the next 10 days. Our fuel capacity can only take us up to 550nm or so. We have a 300nm deficit that we really need wind for! 🤔
The long range forecast models are consistent in that they show poor wind conditions, but th
ey are
still quite different on where there might be wind. We are currently motoring towards 14N, 50W (which is where we were headed before we were motoring) since we think this gives us the best chance to find some wind to sail those 300 miles.
We continue to watch the forecasts evolve, and have plenty of food, water, etc. so we are not concerned , but would prefer to get to St. Lucia vs. bobbing around in the Atlantic 🤣. Time will tell...
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