May 20 1300UTC

Trip meter 6458

Dist to Horta 499

Dist in 24 hrs 66

DMG 50

Had a very rough night with swell from the NW and wind-driven waves from the SW.  Wind started to moderate in the early hours of the morning but still strong gusts.  At sunrise I hoisted a jib and pulled in the rope and chain.  Had to clean piles of sargassum weed out of the cockpit.  Wind and waves kept moderating so I hoisted the main with 3 reefs, then later 2 reefs and soon after just 1 reef and going well.  Saw a 15m catamaran on AIS from 5 miles out coming up astern of me.  Took them quite a while to pass me doing 8 knots to my 6.  Wind is up again and had fun hand steering and surfing the waves.  Top speed was 8.8 knots. Now back to 3 reefs because I was getting soaking wet, still doing over 5 knots.  

 May 19th 1300 UTC  Day 30

Trip meter 6392

Dist to Horta 549

Dist in 24 hrs 63

DMG 52

Yesterday afternoon I put out the rope with chain to slow down and also tied everything down really well.  Been under bare poles since.  It got very bouncy with short steep breaking waves, but quite small.  Wind increased to maybe 25 knots overnight with some harder gusts and the seas built up to about 1.5m.  The seas are a bit more organised now but still have to jamb myself on the floor between the bunks with 4 bean bags to stop being thrown around.  Boiling water for coffee and dinner (spaghetti) was done with great care so I didn't pour boiling water over myself.  This morning there was a little sun and plenty wind.  At about 0900 the front passed over with about an hour of rain and the wind dropped to 18 knots, still from the SW. Waiting for the NW to come through and pick up.  Nice and sunny at the moment with cold wind. All fine aboard, can't wait to get sailing again - maybe tonight or tomorrow morning.

 May 18th 1300 UTC

Trio metre 6329 nm (set to in Tenerife before the Atlantic crossing)

Distance to Horta 601 nm

Distance in 24 hrs 58 nm

Distance Made Good 48 nm

Wind slowly picking up. Seas small but tumbling with current against wind.  Gybed a few times last night to keep on course.  I'm sailing a bit faster than I would like as I want to stay south of N32.5 by midday on Tuesday (tomorrow).  I might drop the jib a bit later.  Still some sun between clouds and topping up the batteries as no sun forecast for tomorrow.  Finished my last onion last night, no more fresh veg, but still got plenty of food.   Starting to get more uncomfortable, boat being thrown around on increasing waves, and looking very grey to the north.

 May 17th, 1300UTC

Trip metre 6271

Dist to Horta 649

Dist in 24 hrs 57

DMG 48

Still sailing slowly under jib in nice calm conditions with sunny skies.  At 3am I saw a ship on AIS, 20 miles away.  Watched the sun rise out of the seas with clear skies and a large pod of dolphins swimming on the same course as me.  Been snoozing, reading, doing puzzles on tablet, watching a bit of YouTube and window shopping on Amazon.

 May 16th

Trip metre 6214

Dist to Horta 697

Dist in 24hrs 65

DMG 54

Still under jib only.  Wind light and sea calmed down so not too bumpy.  Wind on stbd beam.  Cruising along slowly so as not to get too far north before Tuesday.  Forecast still predicts winds of 40 knot gusts at 35N.  Hopefully I'll get a bit less and only for a few hours.  Even more weed around today.  I have just reversed a wheelbarrow load off the keel.

Nice sunset tonight

 

 May 15th

Trip metre 6149nm

Dist to Horta 751nm

Dist in 24hrs 33nm

DMG 21nm

I have just been drifting under bare poles with the tiller lashed since yesterday until mid morning.  Wasting time till the depression passes north of me.  Put up the jib this morning to get a bit closer to the depression's forecast position as the weather models change.  I'm aiming for 35N 35Wby Tuesday.  Then I should be in strong winds but not too severe.  The weather models do not agree too well and for the long term forecasts they are completely different.  And the forecasts change every few hours.  Sailing at about 3 knots with the wind aft of the beam.  Sea still choppy with uncomfortable motion for a 5m yacht.  Still a lot of sargassum weed around.  There are no gaps bigger than 10m between patches of weed.  Most are the size of a side plate but some are as big as a car.  This does not look good for the future.