What a difference a day makes. Being less than half way there was not my favorite but now that we have passed the point where we are closer to Bermuda than St Maarten, I am happy now.
Happy to see a lovely sunrise this morning.
Even better up close.
I am still not happy about the code zero needing work as we have had to resort to motor sailing in conditions when a larger headsail would have allowed us to sail. However, diesel is cheaper than a blown out, unrepairable, sail and if that were to happen, I doubt that it would be practical to repair.
Better safe than sorry so engine on.
While having the engine is under the sink in the galley and in the middle of the boat makes for great weight distribution and good sailing, it also makes things HOT down below.
As the wind has become lighter, we finally resorted to turning the engine on and have been motoring for 12 hours now, since last evening at 7:00. Chris Parker had said from the beginning that we would likely be motoring about half of the distance and while I expect that we will be able to sail some during the last day of the run, it seems to be working out about as he predicted.
When it is calm and we are motor sailing, it is very comfortable below as I can run the forward AC off the engine alternator. A few years ago, I installed a vent into the main cabin from the forward AC unit and it does a passable job at keeping things cool in the main cabin despite the hot engine. The AC unit in the main cabin is much larger and I am not comfortable putting that big of a load on the alternator for hours on end.
Overnight it was very calm with a few scattered squalls but they were mild and I slept through the only one that came over us while Dave was on watch. Fortunately, this run has been relatively squall free. I recall a passage a few years ago when we had upwards of two dozen squalls which was very stressful.
After a small squall passed us just after dawn, a sliver of a rainbow.
The clouds out in the ocean are endlessly fascinating. A 360 horizon, and a particularly dramatic view in or wake.
As of now it looks like we will make our way into Bermuda in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and likely in the dark. I will admit that I am a bit anxious about entering the harbor in the dark as the channel is only about 200’ wide and there are a lot of shallow reefs on either side. However, it is well marked and between the plotter, iPad charts and radar, we should be able to pick our way through it
George has been through the cut and feels that it will be fine so that is good. Once we are inside the harbor it is very protected and we will drop the anchor and wait till dawn.
With regards to the code zero, we plan on waiting until the wind gets very light, probably later today, and will pull it down so that we will be ready to take it ashore as soon as we clear in, hopefully on Tuesday morning.
So, there you have it, more than half way there, it is calm and we are making progress.
Still over 400 miles to go so perhaps it is a bit premature to say “yahoo!”
Fingers crossed…