End of Day 2 - Beaufort NC towards Antigua

These Blog entries are edited versions of the messages we sent back as we completed the passage. They were sent by radio using a laptop that controls a modem and the HF/SSB radio, using the SailMail system. We sent the messages daily to Charlotte and she then forwarded them on to a list of family members.

2359hrs (EST, 5hrs behind GMT) 30 Nov 2018

Dear All,

It was a slow night for us.  We kept sailing throughout but were only making 3.5-4.5 knots so our middy to midday run was just 123 nautical miles.

We are in clear blue water again which is nice after the muddier coloured waters of the ICW and the Chesapeake Bay; add in an almost clear blue sky and I guess that you can put us in pretty idyllic offshore sailing conditions, especially because after lunch the wind built to 10-12 knots which helped us to scoot along at a much healthier 6-6.5 knots.  It's still variable though so we go through short periods of sailing at up to 7 knots with the sea bubbling past us followed by lulls where the wind vane steering goes all over the place.  Georgina, our wind steering system, really needs a steady wind from a consistent direction so she's needing quite a bit of tweaking to get her to hold a steady course.

With the water clean again, we ran up our watermaker this morning to check that was all functional, which it is.  We have more than enough water in the tanks for our expected 10 day passage, plus we have filled 4 jerry cans with fresh water as a contingency in case a tank splits.  However, by running the watermaker for an hour every day we'll keep the tanks fully topped up and be able to use as much as we wish for washing up and showers.

Keeping the log up to date and requesting a weather forecast on the notebook which also
controls the HF/SSB radio

We have a slight problem with our GPS plotter system.  I’m not sure why but the 2 displays seems to be stuck on 16 April 2099 as today's date. Unless BV has suddenly turned into a time machine, there's definitely something wrong there which we'll probably have to try to fix at our destination.  The position and other information is all good but the wrong date would be a pain if we had to put out an automated distress call because the radio uses the GPS date and time signal. But then cruising is supposed to be fixing your boat in exotic locations so it's all part of the dream.

We are settling into the watch rota but it usually takes about 3 days to fully adjust to the broken sleep pattern. That's partly why we left when we did, avoiding the gale force winds offshore, so that we'd have an easier first few days before the next period of strong winds which look like they will hit us on Sunday, though we're busy making easting to try to get as far away from them as possible.  As we implied in yesterday's missive, it's a lot warmer now.  The sea temperature is up to 23.9 deg C and the air temperature in the cabin at 2000 local time is around 22 deg C.  Clearly, it's cooler on deck in the wind but it's a lot more comfortable than it was close to the US coast with all that cold continental air. We'd rather it didn't blow too hard but, if it must, it'll be a lot more pleasant out here where it's reasonably warm rather than the other side of the Gulf Stream where it's nearly freezing.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 30 Nov: N33 22 W74 33
Position at midnight 30 Nov: N32 40 W73 20
Midday to midday distance: 123 nautical miles
Midnight to midnight distance: 136 nautical miles
Total miles covered:  221 nautical miles
Approximate distance to go (direct line): 1120 nautical miles

End of Day 2 Beaufort in North Carolina to Antigua