End of Day 4 Beaufort NC USA towards Guernsey

This Blog entry is an edited version of the message we sent back whilst we were on the passage.  The original, without pictures, was sent by radio with a laptop that controls a modem connected to the HF/SSB radio.  With that set up we can contact one of the SailMail stations to send the daily text message to my daughter Charlotte in Guernsey who then forwards it on to a list of family members.

2359hrs (EDT, GMT -4) Mon 1 Jun 2020

Dear All,

Dawn; the wind has risen but the seas aren’t too bad at this stage

With the second weather front having passed just before midnight, today has been all about dealing with the follow-on strong northerly winds.  The wind has been on our port beam sometimes as low as 20 knots, sometimes briefly above 30 knots but generally in the 25-30 knot band.  The rapid change of wind direction has meant that the sea has been very short too with waves passing us every 4 seconds.  That has made for a rocky rolly ride all day.

Fast and furious sailing with 2 reefs in the main, the staysail and a smidge of genoa unrolled.  [Ed: By the time Reg took this picture, that smidge of genoa was, to be honest, a little more sail than BV really needed.  I unrolled it whilst Reg was asleep off-watch to help BV bash through the waves.  Over the next hour the wind rose but the sailing was loads of fun.  There was a LOT of spray and water over the decks and my biggest concern whilst the moment was being recorded was that the next goffer would roll across the decks and drown the camera]

Whilst on watch we've mostly been steering or monitoring things in the cockpit wearing full oilskins and getting doused in spray.  However just after lunch one of the last of our old instruments in the cockpit started to fade so that we couldn't read it.  That was a pain because until I fit a new magic box down below, the faded instrument is the primary way that we can get an accurate log reading.  So, Nicky dug out one of the other old instruments that had I removed in Beaufort and I used that as a replacement.  We now have an instrument we can read and, pleasingly, along the way we kept the cumulative distance through the water reading.  Plus, somehow, I managed not to lose any of the screws or fiddly bits.  No mean feat with BV bucking up and down.

A short film showing Nicky sailing just before lunch (and before we rolled away that ‘smidge’ of genoa)

We knew about this period of strong wind when we set off and whilst it is a little uncomfortable it should just be for a 24hr period.  Leaving Beaufort when we did and using this wind will progress us far enough east in time to latch onto a more moderate area of wind which we hope will keep us moving east and perhaps a little north east.  Anyway, that's the plan so we'll see how it goes over the next 24-48hrs.

On a separate note, we had intended to say yesterday (but the evening weather got the better of us) thank you to all of you who have sent notes of love and encouragement via our InReach.  Please excuse us for not replying individually - if nothing else typing replies on its keypad is an incredibly slow process - but please be assured that your messages have been very much appreciated.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 01 Jun: N34 00 W067 44

Position at midnight 01 Jun: N34 02 W66 26

Midday to midday distance through water: 165 nautical miles (average 6.9 knots).

Midday to midday distance towards destination: 138 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance through water: 176 nautical miles (average 7.3 knots)

Midnight to midnight distance towards destination: 138 nautical miles

Total miles covered through water:  585 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Guernsey): 3205 nautical miles

End of Day 4 Beaufort, North Carolina, USA towards Guernsey