Wednesday, November 20
James started motoring about halfway through his 1100-1200 watch. The wind comes up and I think…but no, it dies back down. I’ll let it stabilize a bit before I trust it.
Slooow day, even though on other trips we’ve gone less-far in the same amount of time.
James made his excellent red sauce and the rest of a bag of rotini. Plan was to use half for pasta salad tomorrow but the pasta didn’t act like expected. It fell apart as it softened but didn’t gain mass. Weird. The sauce, on the other hand, was sublime.
He was cooking when I realized we might not need the motor. Without it, our speed varied a bit more but stayed in the upper 2s.
Now it’s 2100 and my first long watch. We’re a few days past the full moon and I get a starry sky for this watch. The moonrise at 2345 will wash out the stars again and I’m glad to have this time to watch them.
Thursday, November 21
The wind came up some around 0330, so I pulled out the yankee. It flew well for about a half hour before the wind died back down and I rolled it back in.
We have a very easterly light breeze so we’re gybing whenever it fluctuates a little north or south and steadies there. We’ll be sailing 2.6 knots (I don’t know why, but I’m seeing a lot of that number) right down the line and then turn. I can’t feel the wind change because LoveBot keeps us at the same angle to the wind, however we’ve set it. Without any landmarks, the clues are in the sun or the moon and stars. Confirming the change on the chartplotter is easy, and we gybe.
Noon position: N 15° 25.416’ W 040° 52.281’
Distance noon to noon: 74.7 NM
Average speed: 3.12 kn
Trip distance covered: 965.3 NM
Distance to destination: 1168 NM
