Isla Mujeres towards Fort Lauderdale End of Day 3

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) 15 May 2020

Dear All,

Much smoother seas today – nice!

BV sailing between 2 large rain squalls

We had much more comfortable sailing today because the seas had reduced slightly but we are still having to beat into wind to make headway east through the Florida Straits; it's a frustrating bit of water to sail through!  The wind remains directly from where we want to get to and the Gulf Stream isn't helping as much as we hoped it would.  But at least we are sailing.  Yachts that set off after us have been advised that the wind will drop and that they will need to motor through pretty much the whole of the straits.  It's slow progress east for us tacking backwards and forwards but being further north we should be able to sail for longer.  That said, at some stage soon we will need to switch the engine on and will likely need to motor the rest of the way to Fort Lauderdale.

We are still managing to dodge the odd rain squall or 2 and it's not completely clear yet what is going on with the potential tropical low forming over Cuba, so we'll need to monitor that closely as best we can.  SSB communications were not great today.

Aside from that, here's not a lot to report; slow progress roughly in the right direction sums the day up.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky 

Passage statistics:
Position at midday 15 May: N23 59 W83 57
Position at midnight 15 May: N23 42 W82 44
Midday to midday distance: 157 nautical miles (average 6.5 knots)
Midnight to midnight distance: 151 nautical miles (average 6.3 knots)
Total miles covered: 362  nautical miles
Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Fort Lauderdale): 230 nautical miles

End of Day 3  Isla Mujeres, Mexico, towards Fort Lauderdale, USA