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Bluewaft - Bluewaft Log Day 22 - Final stretch



Bluewaft Log Day 22
Sunday 11 December 2016
18°07’.101N 059°59’.502W
Less than 200nm to go! At last we’re seeing some good consistent winds –
in the 15kt – 22kt range, and an established swell of 8-10ft pushing us
along. While we made good time during the day, we had a busy night with
squalls. At sun set we had a good look around and nothing on the horizon.
We tweaked the radar gain to pick up rainfall (a good indicator of intense
squalls). You can imagine our surprise a couple of hours later, when with
no warning from the radar, a squall hit. Fortunately it wasn’t too severe,
only 25kts, and we were able to quickly furl the gennaker. But it gave us
a fright and we sailed the rest of the night on the genoa. This cost us
some speed, but better safe than sorry!
This morning we re-rigged the gennaker in a goose-wing configuration with
the jib and are now making up for lost time, making between 8kts and 9 kts
in 20 kts of wind. If the winds stay steady and we avoid any chaff or
breakages, we should be in St Maarten by tomorrow morning.
Yesterday we decided to pull the rods in. We have enough left over fish
for the rest of the journey and don’t want to offend any local fishermen we
chance upon.
We’ve seen another boat for the first time in days: ‘Desert Hope’.
Reassuring to know the AIS is still working fine!
For yesterday’s dinner Marcus cooked up a garlic prawn tagliatelle. Very
nice and a change from the meat and fish!
Today will be spent starting to prepare the boat for arrival. Some
preliminary cleaning and tidying, getting documents ready, etc. We’re
still going through the daily routine of shifting halyards to avoid chaff
and inspecting the bilges. Ever vigilant! We’re also paying close
attention to the radar and AIS as we get closer to land, being particularly
watchful for fishing boats. We uploaded the latest Navionics charts and
checked the pilot guide. We’ve started the necessary clearance paperwork.
So, all we need to do now is get there!
Happy sails!

P1010049

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