Day 10 – Smooth sailing

Yesterday was the best sailing so far.  Clear skies, but not too hot.  Wind from behind at 20-25 knots.  The seas finally laid down a bit, and we made great progress.  203nm from 7pm – 7pm.  That is what we imagine trade wind sailing must be like.

Today is quite different.  It appears we are sailing between two high pressure centers.  We’re not sure how that is actually possible to have two highs pushing up against each other, but it looks to be the case.  Right now the wind is straight out the east at 10 knots.  It is actually not bad.  At this wind speed going upwind is smoother than going downwind above 20 knots.  We are still making good progress as Shearwater loves to go upwind, perhaps even more than downwind.  In fact, we put the mainsail up for the first time in 48 hours, after we stitched in battens that we just put in, since 3 of the 4 original battens got tossed out back around Day 5 or 6. Fortunately, we had lots of spare battens onboard and we are back to 100%.

Onboard, the temperatures have moderated and stayed in the seventies, making hot drinks and hot dinners much more appealing than before.  Chris made coffee for the first time just yesterday.  We’re cycling through our fresh food quickly now, trying to eat the last remaining blueberries before mold sets in.

This trip has been a lot windier than expected.  Looking back we had winds between 20 and 40 knots for all but 8 hours of the last 5 days.  All from behind, though, so uncomfortable at times, but usually fast.

Current position – 40 06.74n 47 49.85w
Distance to go – 893.5 nm
24 hour run – 203 nm