Sunday 18 November. Day 3 to Bermuda: Sailing hard on the wind and waves.
The day starts with us motorsailing at 7-8kts on the rhum line to Burmuda. The wind is 5-12kts. 12kts we could obviously sail but below 7 the boom and sails are banging violently in the swell. So motorsailing is the answer to equipment safety, comfort and speed. The extra propulsion brings the apparent wind forward, increases its speed and hence better flow over the sails to keep them full.
Just before 3am Glen is up and the wind is up with him. So engine off and we are sailing, close reach, by the wind. After a few hours our course looks like that of a drunken sailor but the speed is good and generally in the right direction. The wind is shifting up to 60deg as we sail with autohelm on “wind”. So while direction maybe slightly compromised ( like, all over the place!) the sail trim and hence speed remain strong. Glen is a firm believer that once the sails are trimmed and CB is in her groove … don’t mess with anything! That said, he is constantly breaking that rule 🙂
Sunrises at 6am to a partially cloudy sky. New forecast downloaded and a sat-phone call to Jennie, Glen’s daughter, on her birthday in London. It’s the second birthday-call she has received from a sat-phone. Ellie, her sister, called from the Nullabor desert in Western Australia, where she is searching for a meteorite that she had tracked.
And at 7:30 we have Oana-rise … but she doesn’t look as bright as the sun! This upwind sailing into the waves is not her favorit motion and she already has a greenish complexion to start her day, poor her.
Wind picks up, the sea gets bigger, and after few bashings into the waves Glen wakes up to sort it out. We reef the mainsail and continue to sail by the wind. Which makes us giggle when we look at our track. But when the shift in the wind gets significant, we set Cloudy Bay to steer less into the wind. We want to go to Bermuda, not mainland UK!
Breakfast is very much improvised this morning, and we serve it on our knees. Nothing would stay on the table even if we bother to flip it open. Deep bowls and non-tip over mugs come out, first time we use them. We skip making coffee, the Nespresso machine would not be happy in this movement. And we share one mug of tea. Boiling one kettle was enough of an adventure, no need to repeat the process.
After we changed course the wind calmed down too. And with the current that we now seem to have against us, occasionally we are only doing 4-5kts SOG.
Horizon to horizon the sky is filled with small darkened puffy clouds. Each with its own influence on the wind speed and direction. Needless to say we reef, unreef then reef again the main, countless times. For a while we seem to sail into a clear patch of blue sky, which settles the wind and brings warm rays of sun. Soon we have our warm layers removed and enjoy the warmth.
Oana still not good in the afternoon. She has zero appetite for lunch, so Glen has the left overs from yesterday. Eventually she goes below to her bed just as the sun sets. It’s quite glorious as it sinks low behind the puffy clouds, with its rays extending out and downwards. But soon all goes grey – no nice colors this evening.
During the evening we continue our bouncy ride hard on the wind, and waves, while the wind gradually backs to the east, as per forecast. But it means we are now heading south of our rhum line to Bermuda. Once it backs to be inline with the rhum line we will tack onto starboard and get lifted to Bermuda. That should be by mid afternoon tomorrow.
Just before midnight another yacht appears on AIS, called Betelgeuse. It is 11 miles to windward. Glen fancies calling it on the VHF, but has no idea how to pronounce the name! Anyway, another yacht means a race is on, which will keep Glen entertained during the night 🙂