Distance sailed today:101 NM
Total distance sailed: 1579 NM
Midnight GPS position: N 21.48 W043.39
Wind: NE Wind Force 1-2
Sea state: Slight
Generator hours: 1.9hr
Walking casually around the deck this morning, I was met by some very friendly and inquisitive marine life. A pod of dolphins.
It was difficult to count, but I figure there must have been about ten individual pairs of dolphins darting left and right in front of the boat playfully.
They hung around for about an hour before tiring of the great beast that slowly trudged through the water. No fun, they must have thought. Just staring straight ahead and not bothering to play!
Today was our first hint of Carribean weather. Massive blue skies and a burning sun. It was 27 degrees celcius in the shade, and much much more in the direct sun. My back got rather red, and is still smarting.
We also lost most of the wind that we have enjoyed for the last two weeks. Steve and Ellie are amazed that we have had such steady and strong trade winds so far on this trip. They have hardly falterd. However today they dropped to below ten knots, at times only managing 5 knots.
Eager to keep moving, and to see just how much fuel we need to conserve, Steve decided to start using the engines to power us through the water. This way, we maintained a boat speed of around six knots. According to Steve’s calculations, we still need about two days of pure sailing before we can rely only on diesel to get us to our destination.
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WEATHER FAXES FOR TODAY
The 72 hour wind and wave forcast has predicted only Wind Force 3-4 for our general position over the next few days, which accounts for our distinct lack of wind today. Perhaps it will pick up later on next week. The surface forecast still looks good, with no major distubances or fronts that might disrupt things.
