Isla Mujeres towards Fort Lauderdale End of Day 2

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 my daughter Charlotte and she then forwarded them on to a list of family members.

2359hrs (CDT, GMT -5) 14 May 2020

Dear All,

We stayed on Nicky's northerly tack through the night and all of today, Thursday 14 May.  And a combination of the north-flowing Gulf Stream and the wind veering a little more to the east-southeast, meant that we pretty much reached the recommended 23 30N 85 15W waypoint.  The question thereafter being how best to play the wind and the current to beat east towards Key West/Miami/Fort Lauderdale.

In the end we decided to continue to ride the Gulf Stream up to the northeast and to tack somewhere around latitude 24 30N. Somewhere in and around here the Gulf Stream turns to flow southeast, before later flowing due east.  We're not exactly sure what heading or track we will achieve when we tack but if we're lucky we'll be able to ride the stream back down to where it turns east and at that point we will either try short tacking along the stream or, if there are too many big ships in the fastest part of the stream, will short tack eastwards on its northern side.  And then, of course, there's the question of whether or not the wind will veer more northerly as currently forecast or run out entirely (as forecast for late Sat or Sun).

The other 'interesting' weather situation developing at the moment is a rotating low pressure region, likely to become the first tropical low of the season.  It's currently developing over Varadero in Cuba and is forecast to move northeast to the northern Bahamas over the weekend before heading northeast out into the Atlantic.  Not that the northern Bahamas really need to see another tropical rotating storm just yet, after the destruction and deaths wreaked by Dorian last September.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky 

Passage statistics:
Position at midday 14 May: N23 08 W85 33
Position at midnight 14 May: N24 18 W85 56
1415hrs to midday distance: 133 nautical miles (average 6.1 knots)
Midnight to midnight distance: 153 nautical miles (average 6.4 knots)
Total miles covered:  218 nautical miles
Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Fort Lauderdale): 336 nautical miles

End of Day 2  Isla Mujeres, Mexico, towards Fort Lauderdale, USA