End of Day 22 Beaufort NC USA towards Guernsey

This Blog entry is an edited version of the message we intended to send back whilst we were on the passage.  Unfortunately the laptop we use to work with the modem connected to the HF/SSB radio failed on 13 June so we had no way of sending it at the time it was written.

2359hrs (Z, GMT) Fri 19 Jun 2020

Dear All,

Nicky’s midnight to 4am watch was largely uneventful but as she handed over to me it started to rain and shortly after that the wind reduced to nothing.  With a gale to dodge, I switched on the engine, set off again and furled away the genoa.  Half an hour later there was just enough wind for the sails to be productive so I unfurled the genoa and we continued on at slightly reduced revs, motorsailing at 6½-7knots.  I guess the day will aptly fulfil the adage that, “when sailing there is generally either far too much wind or far too little!”.

Motorsailing east-southeast at dawn

By 0630hrs we were back on form with 15kts of wind on our starboard beam and our 7kts speed seemed to meet with the approval of a couple of passing dolphins who darted in to play in our bow wave whilst I trimmed the sails to get the best sailing speed. 

The impromptu fruit loaf – perfect with butter and a mug of tea!

I must have been half asleep though, because when I looked in the galley locker and saw just half a loaf of bread, I completely forgot that there was another one, that I had baked on Wednesday, in the locker just forward.  So, I set to mixing up flour, yeast, sugar and water  Fortunately, when Nicky got up she reminded me of the other loaf so I was able to add half an American stick of butter to the dough and switched it to being a fruit loaf with lots of raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries and the zest of an orange.  A bit of a made-up recipe so it will be interesting to see how it turns out [Ed: It was very god!].

Fast cruising conditions

As the day progressed the wind picked up a little more, to 15-20kts just aft of the beam, and the ride became faster.  The waves have passed us at an acute angle all day so it has felt as if BV has been accelerating down the front of them constantly.  Add in the clear blue skies and we’ve had perfect fast passage-making conditions with the speed staying closer to 8kts than 7kts.  Champagne cruising, and a real boost given that we want to get down to 45N latitude by midday tomorrow (Saturday) and as far east as we can at the same time.  It seemed best just to let Georgina get on with steering and to ‘supervise’, sitting in cockpit enjoying the sunshine and a good book (plus some fruit loaf and a mug of tea of course!).

This picture makes it all look rather calm and uneventful but we had great sailing conditions all day

As I finish this off, just after midnight on Saturday 20 June, BV is zipping along to the southeast at 8kts with 2 reefs in the mainsail and just the staysail flying forward.  The sea is starting to get lumpy but with that sail plan she is making really good and comfortable progress towards our 45N waypoint.  Just after the OCC Net at 2300hrs, Nicky spoke to Ocean Viking on the SSB to answer his questions about the weather.  He too was heading east to avoid the worst of the winds on the low pressure system tracking to the north of us but he is down at 44N whereas, at the time, we were a good bit further north at 45 30N heading down to 45N.  At 44N Ocean Viking only had about 15kts of wind, in comparison to the 20-25kts that we were experiencing and, from what Chris Parker told us, it seems unlikely that they will have anything more than about 20kts that far south.  Using his IridiumGo! (or similar sat comms system) Ocean Viking said he could see the OCC’s Atlantic crossing fleet on the Predict Wind tracker and said that there are several other OCC yachts roughly in our area.  So, there could be a bit of a race north when this troublesome front has passed through tomorrow afternoon.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Footnote:

After we had arrived in Guernsey Charlotte showed me some screenshots she had taken showing our track and the low pressure system that we were running away from.

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 19 Jun: N56 02 W17 38

Position at midnight 19 Jun: N45 31 W15 35

Midday to midday distance through water (23 hrs because of the time zone change): 143 nautical miles (average 6.2 knots).

Midday to midday GPS distance towards destination (23 hrs because of the time zone change): 139 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance through water: 169 nautical miles (average 7.0 knots)

Midnight to midnight GPS distance towards destination: 169 nautical miles

Total miles covered through water:  3407 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Guernsey): 612 nautical miles

End of Day 22 Beaufort, North Carolina, USA towards Guernsey