Thursday 2 June 2016

Azores Inbound - Day 10

Hi everyone,
We are currently in position 37 06N 043 09W, saillng at 5 knots on a course of 120M. The wind is NW at 15-20 knots with a 2m leftover sea and 2m swell. We are sailing under double-furled yankee only. Overcast sky. Our day's run was 137nm, our DMG was 106nm and we have 694nm to go.

We've just come through a weak cold front and a few minutes ago were under staysail alone in 25-30 knot WSW winds. It's always nice to see the far side of a front!

Yesterday afternoon the WNW wind decreased to 12-16 for a few hours before filling in overnight and backing to the WSW. It was a mostly overcast night with lumpy seas and plenty of wind. We handed the main this morning at 0930 when the wind reached 30 knots and the front was clearly approaching. We both slept very well in our off-watches with the boat nicely snugged down.

We ended up travelling a lot further north overnight than we had planned, which explains the poor DMG. We decided to get through the front in the hope that the NW winds beyond it will give us a good push east. Remains to be seen how that pans out!

It looks like we'll have more practice dealing with fronts before reaching the Azores. There are several more depressions approaching from the W, each of which will probably have a front associated with it.

Craig in Fremantle has advised there is a fleet of racing yachts passing through our area - a New York to France event apparently. Like him I hope they monitor their AIS closely. Thanks Craig!

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