23⁰ 14.20 N 64⁰ 35.74 W
Distance covered in 24 hrs 176 Nautical Miles
Heading: Due North(ish!!)
Well we did it, Anam Cara surpassed herself in the last 24 hours, we did 176 Nautical Miles, the old record of 168 has been shattered, well done AC.
A concetrated effort on fishing left us minus another lure, even with wire, they certainly breed the fish with sharp teeth around these parts!
The morning was taken up with Andrew fitting the new battery charger, what with the heat, confined space, grovelling on the floor and general bobbing about of the boat, Andrew had a job on his hands, but never mind he completed the task and we now have a battery charger working at full capacity: Lets hope it continues like that! The generator was on for several hours and the batteries were brough up to full charge in no time. Thank you Andrew.
We next attacked the fridge. As usual it was swimming in water so we ceaned it out an decided that all the chicken I had bought for 2 meals needed cooking. So on our first Saturday we had a chicken Thia green curry and three roasted pieces for a Chicken Salad, maybe tomorrow. A Chocolate sponge cake with custard for puding and all washed down with a nice bottle of chilled white vino. I understand that when I finish the regular log our esteemed navigator and comms man has a few wordshe wishes to say.
Towards the end of the day, the winds started dropping and to keep some momento going into the night we were forced to turn on the engine, a great dissapointment as we had been going so well.
Apart from the jods it was a quiet day, nothing on the horizon to see other than the same boat thatt has kept station with us since day one,
I will now hand you over to Chris who as I said wants to make a few comments,
The days are swiftly passing as we get into our daily routines. One interesting difference on this boat is that the day is ‘driven’ by the menus we can expect with our skipper producing all kinds of cullinary delights.
Each day has its own unique ‘reason’ for a little treat – we even had serviettes last night in the cockpit when we had the chicken.
Today is Sunday so no doubt we will have lots of treats and will of course be dressing for dinner this evening.
Things like daily passage milages and setting up the boat assume secondary importance – the only reason that Andrew spent half the day upside – down fitting the new battery charger was so we could have cool G and T’s prior to dinner!!
Having said that we have equalled and now exceeded the boat’s previous best daily run ever so the good food etc must be doing something.
A little bit of navigation – we are experiencing a strong E to W set in the current of about 1.5knots so we are having to point up to maintain our course to Bermuda. Unfortunately the weather is not playing ball with that since the wind has backed (headed us) and nearly died and we are therefore currently on our way to Florida. (We happen to be on the same latitude as Miami, Florida at this time
All of the weather here is ‘driven’ by a high to the E of us – which has decided to disappear to the E and dissipate. We are not yet far enough N to get any wind benefit from other potential lows that sweep over the Atlantic.
The sea is has a lot of seaweed from the Sargaso Sea – we keep thinking we have a big fish and managed to ‘land’ a 20lb lump of seaweed yesterday!!
The area is known as the ‘Horse Latitudes’ and are known for their lack of wind.
Having seen what the local fish do to wire lures we are not keen to have a swim although the water is very tempting and warm.
Anyway on with the day’s ‘chores’ – cutting up the lemons etc for tonight…………………..
Love and from us all on Anam Cara
P.S. I am glad to see we have our serious sailor (Chris) into the social way of sailing as found on Anam Cara. Skipper.