It\u2019s day four of what will likely be a 10 day passage from St Thomas to CT and home.<\/p>\n
Brenda\u2019s still in Japan on a fiber tour and it sounds like she is having a wonderful time.\u00a0 Amazingly, with little communication it turns out that 4 of her friends also signed up and are there with her.<\/p>\n
Thanks to WhatsApp and Starlink, I have been able to talk to her a few times in spite of the 13 hour time difference.\u00a0 It seems that the best time to catch her is in the morning here, or around bedtime for her.<\/p>\n
When I think back to our first few years cruising beginning in 2012 when we first went to the Bahamas, I am amazed how different things are now.\u00a0 Back then, we had to purchase a cell sim card in the Bahamas and there was no reasonable way to call family in the US.\u00a0 We used Skype but that never seemed to work.\u00a0 And forget finding a decent Wi-Fi connection.<\/p>\n
As difficult as that was, it was a piece of cake compared with our time in Cuba, the two months that we spent cruising the island meant that there was just no way to talk to anyone.\u00a0 Forget phone, not allowed.\u00a0\u00a0 And email was very difficult and required us to purchase a scratch off card, good for 30 minutes, with a code that we would type into a computer kiosk at the government owned hotel.\u00a0 \u00a0And the speeds, on a cable from Venezuela, were horribly slow, think dial-up.<\/p>\n
With here we are a decade later and it still blows me away that I can fire up the Starlink and call Brenda half a world away and 13 time zones ahead and talk.\u00a0\u00a0 And, the connection generally sounds like she is nearby.\u00a0 No delay or odd sounds.<\/p>\n
So, here I sit, typing away in my \u201coffice\u201d.\u00a0 I spend a lot of time sitting here as the cockpit can get crowded with the guys reading and keeping watch.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/IMG_5257.jpg\")
And, my blog, which I have been keeping for more than 13 years now, is so much simpler.\u00a0 In past years, when I was on passage, I put the blog text into an email and sent it to Brenda or whomever was available to post it for me and they would log into my blog and put up the post for me.\u00a0 And, getting a photo to them.\u00a0 Forget it.<\/p>\n
Now, if I am willing to spend the bandwidth, I can post as easily as I do from home with speeds that are actually faster than home.<\/p>\n
The pace of change is staggering, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n
Until this morning, since leaving St Thomas four days ago, we have been sailing.\u00a0 No always particularly fast but it was nice to spend days sailing along without the sound of the motor.<\/p>\n
With nearly a third of the distance under our belt, conditions have been benign and we used the big Code 0 headsail again yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 However, as the wind clocked more to the south, I cranked up the engine in anticipation that the wind will get even lighter for the next few days.<\/p>\n
As Pandora has a very large alternator to charge the lithium house batteries, I can run the smaller of the two AC units right off of the engine as I had them wired to run off of the house DC\/AC inverter.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t cool the entire main cabin but does make a big difference and takes a lot of the humidity out of the air.\u00a0 As the engine is under the galley, all that heat radiates into the cabin and makes it quite uncomfortable.\u00a0 The ability to run the AC, at least when we are motoring, is a big help.<\/p>\n
One of the things we spend a lot of time focused on is the upcoming weather and this trip is no different.\u00a0 The key issue is what conditions will be like when we cross the Gulf Stream and if the wind will be favorable.<\/p>\n
The Gulf Stream runs north from the Florida Straits up to Cape Hatteras and then kicks out to the NE and into the North Atlantic.\u00a0 At some point we will have to cross the GS and it is critical that we not do that when the winds are strong, especially blowing from the NE or East as that means that the wind and current would be opposing and that kicks up dangerous and steep seas.<\/p>\n
This time of year, and it is still early in the season, cold fronts exit the US East Coast every few days and these fast-moving systems bring with them unfavorable winds, especially in the GS.\u00a0\u00a0 Given how fast these systems move, it\u2019s hard to predict more than a few days in advance when they will actually happen.<\/p>\n
As we sit here on Monday our current speed and direction suggest that we will likely encounter the GS around Friday and according to Chris Parker, our weather router, that\u2019s about the time that a strong front will be in our path.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to say exactly what the timing will be but for sure we will have to be certain that we time our entrance into the southern part of the GS to avoid the strongest N\/NE winds.\u00a0 In this case, the winds are expected to top out at more than 25kts, a lot of wind.<\/p>\n
Beginning today we will be entering a windless zone so we will be motoring, likely for another two or more days, until we enter an area with favorable wind.<\/p>\n
With some luck, we will be able to continue on and cross the GS at a time that is benign.\u00a0 As Chris Parker like to say \u201cwell, that\u2019s a long way off and things could change\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, I expect that they will.<\/p>\n
I guess I\u2019ll leave it at that as it\u2019s nearly time to whip up some sandwiches for lunch.\u00a0 Keeping watch, sleeping and eating.\u00a0 That about it on passage.\u00a0 And, writing blog posts, of course.<\/p>\n
More to come but for now, just motoring along, making time.<\/p>\n