A summary after 4 days.

Wednesday 09 05 2012      14:27 UTC 10:27 Local

 

26 13.24 N

64 34.22 W

Heading 9 degres

Speed 5.2 kts

 

The wind is still not here and according to forecasts from both Chris and my friend PYC, who are experienced transatlantic skippers with dozens of crossings from E to W or W to E, this may stay for a bit more.

The wind should be here on the 10th or 11th.

It is a bit like the "Tomorrow we shave for free" poster one could see in French barber's shop when they existed. You came the following day, asked for the free shave and were shown the poster ...

We are now in the second half of the BVI to Bermuda passage and according to the MaxSea software on the Furuno NavNet we have 365 miles to run, about 3 days at 5 kts.But, as indicated on the disclaimer of welcome screen of the Navnet when it is swiched on, "this is only an aid to navigation". So it is only indicative as the past days proved.

Well, we still have some fuel left in tanks and in jerrycans to wait for the wind but not much.

 

What is interesting is that when I did some home work and web browsing to set up a passage plan to Bermuda, most of the blogs and reports I came across mentioned lack of wind for days and suggested to carry as much fuel as possible.

May be people don't report smooth and conventional crossings but it proves that the Pilot Charts indications with SE prevailing winds are a far cry from being God's spell. ("Poor, poor Joseph, what we gonna do?")

Jimmy Cornnell's last book, which he co-authored with his son, may be be more reliable but I have not seen it so far. Will have a look when back in France.

 

Would be fine to catch some fish too but there are so many weeds floating around that 20' after puting the line in the water we have to take it out and clean it. It's like landing Tina Turner's wig everytime!

You do this 2 or 3 times and then you stop fishing. Frustrating.

Hopefully we won't die from starvation, we have enough food for a month at least and as Darren is very good at fixing breakfeast, Ian is a great cook with enough creativity to exploit all that we have in store, from pasta and rice to fruits and whipped cream ...

 

Not having wind, Barry (our Hydrovane) has been turned off and it's rudder removed to avoid any drag effect. We kept it for only a couple of hours just after leaving the BVI and it was doing well keeping the boat on the line and sparing electricity.

It should be back for the Bermuda to Azore crossing ... if we have wind ...

 

Today we had a visitor, not a cargo ship but a bird.

It flies from aft on the starbord side then 'lands' just ahead of the bow on port side and waits for the boat to pass by until it is 50 yards behind us. Then it 'takes off' and does this circling again and again.

There might be a resaon for this bird doing this. May be it is just playing or it is a savvy bird just waiting for food to be thrown away from the boat. We will never know.

 

Crew here: I am fast running out of books to read so I am just praying that there might be a floating book shop with a bar and a swimming pool attached! Not sure if they exist but they sound like a damn good idea!! :)