It is 3 o’clock local time in the morning and I just started my watch. Susan is back into bed having some rest. We have chaned the roster scheme from four hours each to three hours as Susan felt, that four hours is too long. I think she is right, three hours is better for a two crew sail.
Yesterday was a Bluewater Sailing day in the area of Josephine, which is the name of the nautical area referrred to in weather forecasts issued for example by the Portuguese Weather Institute on Navtext and other channels. The forecast was very much in line with the Grib files received from Wetterwelt and perfectly fits into the real weather situation we are facing at the moment. The notherly wind has kicked in as expected with 10 to 15 knots , gusting 20kts, from a 345 to 360 degree bearing. Our course is 215 degree, so that gives us an so called true wind angle of about 130 degree from starboard side – good angle for a night sail, The waves have increased to 2.5 to 3.5 m I would guess but the direction of the boat is in good harmony with the direction of the waves, the latter ones coming from NW direction.
For the night we have taken almost all of the main sail in and are progressing still with 5 to 6 kts, which is about the max speed I prefer when it is dark. Trashing the boat through the night with 8kts does not make sense to me on a passage unless you need to escape some bad weather. Our weather window to Funchal/Madeira is open, so even if we arrive 1 or 2 days later, the conditions at the time of arrival will still me managable. In other words there is no bad weather at the scheduled arrival of this journey pushing us to high speed night sailing.
Under blue sky and deep bluewater we were pressing along with 7 to 8 knots most of the day. We had all our meals and good rest with additional sleep. During the whole day only one other ship appeared on the horizon and on the AIS. There is not much traffic here, which is good. This night we had three ships heading West, which proberly came out of the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the latitude we are on about.
The moon has settled about an hour ago and it is now pitch-dark again. You cannot even see the bow or stern of the boat but you can see million of stars giving accompany out here on the ocean…
Fair winds…
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