Crossing the Atlantic Ocean (Day 14)

Well, from the forecast we had expected the wind to get up and it duly did. Last night and for most of this morning we had 25 knots of wind which made things much more lively, particularly because the resultant sea was a bit confused. The 2-metre wind-driven waves were coming from the ESE whilst the 3-3.5 metre swell was coming from the NE. The merging of the 2 made BV move around a lot but also go a lot faster. The fastest speed we hit was 13.4 knots and we were averaging 7 knots [we covered 84 miles from midnight to midday]. The irregularity of BV's movement from the converging seas was not, however, so good for sleeping well off watch. We are both definitely a little tired.

Sailing along when things had calmed down a bit

The light of the morning highlighted that whilst the swell was mostly 3-3.5 metres, every now and then we got one closer to 5 metres. The following trough seemed a long way down when BV was perched on to of a crest! Fortunately for us, in the afternoon, the wind eased to 18-20 knots and the seas stretched out which made for a much more comfortable life on board.

My best flying fish action photo: a splash! I’m better at still photos of them when
we clear the decks of the corpses in the morning    

Yesterday we were visited by a pod of dolphins. No such luck today but I have been amazed by the number of flying fish. Looking out from the cockpit this morning there was more time with flying fish scooting away from us than not. Normally there were just ones or twos of them but quite often a whole shoal got scared and took flight. The wind on the front of the waves helps them to fly and the larger ones are able to stay airborne for over 100 metres.

The Christmas tree is down and we finished the last of our Panettone at elevenses this morning so we have now switched our attention to making landfall. Our waypoint is at the northern end of Barbados and when we get there we'll turn south to sail a few miles down the western side of the island to Port St Charles. It should be an afternoon arrival and we are both really looking forward to seeing what the island is like.

Nicky's last set of sunsights worked out a position exactly on where the GPS said we were and so reluctantly I am having to admit defeat in the astronav competition.  However, Barbados is just 90 miles away and so, if all goes to plan this will be our last midnight check in from the high seas. The next one should hopefully be confirming our arrival.

Position at 0001 at Sun 7 Jan: N13 52 W058 11
Distance run 1159 - 1159 local time: x159 nm (in 25hr due to the hour change)
Distance run 2359 - 2359 local time: 155 nm
Distance run so far: 2013 nm
Distance to waypoint (just N of Barbados): 90 nm

End of Day 14 position