End of Day 3 Beaufort NC to 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, GMT-5) 21 Nov 2019

Dear All,

This morning we had some 'interesting seas'.  The swell was building to over 2 metres from the NE whilst the wind-driven waves have been coming from the north.  Consequently there was a lot of movement on board BV; that's not helping me get my sealegs established again!  Fortunately, the waves and the swell all aligned in the afternoon and made for a lot more predictable boat movement.

After the morning download of weather we reconsidered our plan.  The prediction of where the high pressure will sit seems to have firmed up and going further south will mean that we will go right into it, with no definite benefit of avoiding headwinds later.

Beam reaching – fast but a bit wet

So we decided to hardened up to the wind and have spent the day tracking east hoping that this will help to keep us far enough north of the high pressure that we don't lose the wind entirely over the next couple of days.  The easterly course meant that the seas were mostly on the beam, side on to us, so BV's motion was affected by them far more than when they had been from more astern.

But the sailing was fast, even though the wind had dropped a few notches from overnight, so we kept up a great speed and by 1800 this evening we had maintained an average speed of over 7kts for over 36hrs, which is pretty impressive for us.  However, in the last watch of the day, the wind was up and down and all around the northerly quadrant which made setting BV up to sail something approaching a straight line a bit of a challenge. But, in general, there's a little more wind than we had expected from the forecast.  That's definitely a blessing, even if Nicky had to make more sail trim adjustments than she might have wanted – not the easiest thing to do in the pitch black night (cloud cover and no moon until much later).

The morning HF Net had showed all the boats are quite spread out.  Zwailer, the other one headed for Antigua, is quite a lot further north (about 33degN) and also a fair distance further east (72W at 0815EST).  By all accounts they've had some strong winds up there - Richard talked about sustained 25-30kt G40-45 overnight and said that they had been doing 10kts before they rolled away some of their headsail!  Hearing that, we can't say we regretted heading further south where the winds have been lighter and our sailing angle more downwind too.  Their conditions sound pretty darned uncomfortable, but they may have the last laugh if they keep the wind better through the high pressure area.

It's getting warmer but we are still wrapped up despite the sea temperature being much higher than on the coastline.  It reached a peak temperature of 26.6 degrees Celsius when we were in the Gulf Stream but has now dropped to 24 degrees Celsius.  The air temperature this afternoon was around 20 degrees C, which is hugely better than it was in Beaufort but even so, the shorts and T shirt rig is going to have to wait until we are a bit further south.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky 

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 21 Nov: N31 55 W73 11

Position at midnight 21 Nov: N31 58 W71 52

Midday to midday distance: 169 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance: 167 nautical miles

Total miles covered:  367 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (direct line): 1050 nautical miles

End of Day 3 - Beaufort North Carolina to Antigua