Crossing the Atlantic Ocean (Day 13)

Well the miles to go are creeping down and we are starting to get very excited about making landfall. We'd like to have more sail out to improve our average speed but we are continually being hit by a string of rain clouds. When one of those is on us the wind is up at 25+ knots and BV flies along but away from them the smaller sailplan has us dawdling along at around 5 knots. The increase in wind comes on very quickly and so we have decided that it is better to be under-canvassed between the showers than to be over-cavassed and have to fight to reduce sail when the stronger winds hit us. That's particularly the case in the early part of the night when the moon hasn't risen; it's really very dark then and there's no hope of seeing the rain cells before they hit. When the moon's up things are a bit better but it can still be tricky to make out the nasty wet and windy clouds. Despite the rain showers it's really very warm. The sea temperature is up at 28 degrees Celcius and the air temperature the same and so during the day we are kitted out in swimsuits, lifejackets and flip flops.

The dirty backstay connection all cleaned up
and ready for the insulation cover to go back on    

Last night Reg noticed that the SSB radio was flashing an SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) warning when we were transmitting and it was hard to reach the radio station in Trinidad. So, one of his morning chores was to see if he could track down the problem. The weakest point in the whole SSB radio set up is the aerial connection to the backstay. Taking away the insulation there revealed a grotty mess of African dust sludge around the cable clamp. After pulling it all apart and cleaning it he seems to have solved the issue but I suspect that when we are in port he’ll also crawl around in the dark recesses of the aft part of the yacht checking the earth connections are as good as they can be too.

We changed our clocks to Caribbean time at the middle of the day watch changeover. That gave us an extra hour for showers, lunch etc and the changeover is split between both our watches and so neither of us is disadvantaged with time off.

Whilst I was asleep off watch in the afternoon BV was visited by a pod of dolphins which added a bit of fun to the routine.

Yesterday we finished off the last of the pre-prepared meals that Reg cooked in Mindelo, so today's chef (Reg again!) had to make dinner almost from first principles. 'Almost' because it was chicken tikka masala made using a cook-in sauce but the chicken thighs (bought frozen and then vacuum packed) needed dissecting before cooking ('officers' baat' as the Gurkhas would say ie no bones) and Reg also bulked the curry out with onions and veg. No mean feat when BV was rolling heavily in the swell and Reg was also having to keep an eye on things on deck and change reefs all at the same time (I was off-watch asleep or trying to sleep). But the curry was delicious and, better still, there's another meal's worth in a plastic box, ready to be reheated. I could have a tough job as chef tomorrow!

Position at 0001 at Sat 6 Jan: N13 24 W055 30
Distance run 1159 - 1159 local time: 149 nm
Distance run 2359 - 2359 local time: 150 nm
Distance run so far: 1857 nm
Distance to waypoint (just N of Barbados): 242 nm

End of Day 13 position