Day 293, Friday April 11th
Today is the big day for our Atlantic Crossing. We plan on travelling 290 nautical miles
(~580 kms) over the next 55 hours. We
wake up at 5 as we have a scheduled 6:00 a.m. takeoff. We decide however to delay and listen to the
Chris Parker weather reports on SSB as last evening and this morning are much
windier than anticipated, and we have some rain so important to check something
hasn’t developed overnight. All is good,
so we up anchor at 7:08 with the main up.
Normally we would reef with 15-20 knot winds, but the wind will be
behind us so our tolerance is a bit higher.
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| Dawson getting the rod ready for fishing |
We sail wing on wing and manage to maintain at least minimum
6 miles an hour speed, however the following sea is making us roll back and
forth so it is not a comfortable ride.
After 2 hours we alter course about 10 degrees and both sails are then
on the port side so it is a more comfortable broad reach versus running. The first 10 hours we sail across the
Bahamian Banks which is about 12 feet deep for 40 miles. Finally we reach the edge of the banks and
toss out our fishing lines attempting to catch a mahi mahi. Within a mile we are off the banks and into
the Atlantic Ocean. About 30 minutes
into the Atlantic our rod bends and starts to squeal. We are excited at the prospects of a fish fry
at the end of our 2 day sail. As Dawson
reels it in however we realize we have a barracuda, not a mahi mahi on the
line. The fish puts up a bit of a fight,
but we land it successfully. Barracuda
are edible, but bony. We decide to throw
it back in. We are surprised how calm
the barracuda is while Dawson gets the hook out of it. It is almost like the fish understands we are
helping it either that or being dragged along at 6 knots behind a boat for 30
minutes has it pretty tired out.
We sail in a northwest direction which is basically a direct
line to our destination. It is a
comfortable sailing position. We had
intended to go in a more westerly direction to get to the Gulf Stream sooner,
but our speeds are good. We are doing
7-8 knots and heading exactly where we want to go. By nightfall we have reached the Gulf Stream
and enjoy a ride on the great Atlantic conveyor belt, as we experience a 2 to 4
knot left. We are sailing along at
speeds of 8-10 knots. The waves are
about 4 foot high and glide nicely under the boat. It is now nightfall and we are doing our
first overnight all by ourselves. Julie
takes the 10-2 a.m. shift and Dawson takes the 2 a.m.-6 a.m. shift.
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| Dawson keeping Julie company during her night shift |
We are fortunate as the moon rises around 5 o’clock in the
evening and once the sun goes down, the moonlight is everywhere. There is an 86% moon and no clouds so the
moonlight reflects off the water. With
our night vision it is light enough to see and raises our confidence
level. We have reefed the main sail as a
precaution in case the wind rises as we don’t want to have to go up on deck at
night. The rule is nigh time we stay in
the cockpit, no going on deck. We are
actually going to sleep in the cockpit when it is not our respective turn on
the helm in case we need each other’s assistance.
The winds stay in a favourable allowing us to maintain 8 +
knots so there is no tweaking of the sails needed all night allowing us to pass
a beautiful moonlit night of sailing.
Both of us manage a good sleep when off watch. We just cruise along. It is no problem staying awake on the helm, as
we are quite excited about the sail, and we chat on the radio with our buddy
boats every once in a while. The night
passes and we are very happy with our progress as the sunrises.
Cheers
Julie and Dawson
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