Thursday 18^th May 2023

North Atlantic Ocean 39^o 30.0N 21^o 07.0W 

Blog by David  (Time zone: BST -1)

Wind is now NNE, perhaps 13-14kts and we are expecting it to get to around 20 later.  The good thing is that we are still able to head due east, and we are at about 8kts, using about 1.500 revs to get us through the lumps,  and we will continue E while we can.  However,  the wind will veer NE later on and we will then have to get on with what we are offered.

This is better than we feared, by some margin. We were tasked with getting to 39^o 30N and holding it while we could but  we have now done so for about 120 miles!  Disappointingly though, having now come perhaps 350 miles due  east, the bearing to Cape St Vincent has only changed from 95^o T to 110 ^o T and it remains 590 miles distant.  (Something to angles subtended over long distances etc.)

DINNER BREAK

What a difference 75 minutes makes! He wind has piped up to 17-18kts. But it is still N of NE so we can still sail pretty much due east but we expect that to change.   The engine is off.  And we are bouncing around – only four days of this to come – deepest joy!

Sartorial elegance

Of which there is not much on board!  Now the wind is definitely from east if north, it is definitely colder than desirable. As I have said, we are at the latitude of Lisbon but not for us the balmy continental temperatures that we feel we deserve.  And so, for the first time for probably four years, I am now wearing my thermal mid layer – jacket and trousers (I haven’t worn trousers since I flew to St Lucia at the beginning of March!).

Well that’s about it, an otherwise uneventful day. 

Oh, other than an email from Lenie who reports she spent some time this afternoon with Princess Anne,  discussing our visit to Vanuatu in circa 2014.