End of Day 8 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 (AST, GMT-4) 26 Nov 2019

Dear All,

My midnight to 0400hrs watch was an uneventful motor with less than 5 knots of wind.  Nicky's morning watch after that was, however, much harder work with a line of rain showers and squalls which brought no end of trouble.  It was so dark that she couldn't see the squalls coming but when they hit the wind went from next to nothing right up to 30 knots and then back down again.  So she had 4 hours of half motoring and half sailing with countless sail changes along the way.

The morning's SSB Net had good comms with all of the yachts.  Apart from Miles, who set off yesterday from Beaufort, and Grace who is still there, all of the other yachts are within 125 miles of each other.

Squalls now visible in the dawn light

Motoring again!

When I came on watch at 0800AST the squalls were visible which allowed me to manoeuvre a bit to avoid the worst of them.  So I had much less in the way of peak winds but less wind to sail between the squalls.  BV just didn't have the power to sail over the waves so we hobby-horsed in the same spot of sea quite a lot until we switched the engine back on to provide some extra oomph.

The last big set of squalls to try to dodge, as well as the MV Volos

What we had hoped was the last daytime squall passed at 1100hrs and, once the wind had settled behind it, we were sailing from 1125hrs.  This is not fast sailing, mostly we're just doing 3.5-5 knots in about 8-10kts of wind, but it's sailing which means that we can preserve our fuel for the 2 days of no wind forecast for when we approach Antigua.  The forecasts are very odd in that the trade winds seem to be off on holiday for most of the next 5 days or so.  Normally, we would expect to be making slightly more easting with the intention of picking up the easterly trade winds from about 23degN.  But we are likely to approach the Eastern Caribbean with strong northerlies somewhat north of us and flat calms where we are if the GRIB files are to be believed.

Sailing very gently but unexpectedly we still got a rogue wave over the deck and with the centre hatch open the bedsheet got wet

Today's other excitement was that we clocked up 1000 miles sailed/motored on this passage at 0900hrs this morning and the direct line to Jolly Harbour has us at under 500nm to go - the end is in sight!  We don't know yet if we will check-in at Jolly Harbour or English Harbour on Antigua; that will depend on how much sailing we do over the next couple of days and how much fuel we have as we approach the island.

Lots of potential overnight squall activity visible at dusk

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 26 Nov: N25 51 W63 41

Position at midnight 26 Nov: N24 56 W63 30

Midday to midday distance: 128 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance: 126 nautical miles

Total miles covered:  1076 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (direct line): 486 nautical miles

End of Day 8 - Beaufort North Carolina to Antigua