..... for the first time time since leaving Madeira it was cool enough to require, not just 1, but 2 lightweight covers over me. Admittedly, I was continuing my newly aquired habit of sleeping in the cockpit rather than down below, but nevertheless it was a startling development. On previous nights I had been quite comfortable with one.
On being forced down below by daylight breaking at around 0530, I also found the pilot berth, which previously was too warm to sleep in due to its height and being out of the through-draft, was now a most comfortable bed once again!
I suspect this coolness may be a temporary phenomenon brought on by the current northerly winds and rather less the result of the few hundred miles of northing we've made since leaving St Martin. Yes we've left the tropics, but we're on the same latitude as southern Florida!
I dozed until about 0930, roused myself and did the washing up from the previous night and even had a shower. Yes that water was cooler too. Then I caught up on messages and the news headlines and downloaded a new GRIB (a computer file containing a weather forecast in graphical form) thanks to the wonders of Starlink.
My Dad would be appalled. A busy GP he loved weekends and summer holidays on his boat with the family, even if it never left the mooring, because no one could ring him. The world would just have to wait until he got back home. Mobile phones would have been an anathma to him, but if he couldn't even have escaped in the middle of the bloody ocean, goodness knows what he would have done? Not that he ever wanted to get anywhere near the middle of an ocean on a small boat. The middle of the Solent was quite far enough thank you!
However, thanks to the latest grib I could see we had another 48 hours or so of lightish headwinds veering slowly towards the East which meant I could leave everything well alone. The Hydrovane would take care of everything. As the wind veered it would keep the boat at the same angle to it and without me lifting a finger we'd be steering the best possible course given the wind and our destination.
Until that is, that it veered so much that we headed off to the east of the island. All I needed to do then was change the vane's angle to the wind and adjust the sails accordingly.
That red thing is the wind vane. When the boat's angle to the wind changes it moves and through a clever system of cogs and bearings, turns a rudder in the water that put's the boat back on course (relative to the wind)
And so the day slid almost effortlessly by and Bonny, once again under her slutter rig, slid pretty effortlessly through the North Atlantic Ocean in a roughly north westerly direction at around 3-4 knots.
Around 1000, I tried calling up my Swedish friends Jan and Elli, some 10 or so miles ahead of me on ther boat Titt4, but got no response. Then at about 1400, Elli responded to my call. They were about 7 miles away at that point. We had a pleasant chat and both parties were pleased to hear the other was fine. We agreed to try and make contact again at our previously agreed chat time of 1800. I made this attempt because by 1800 they may be out of range.
As at 1655, we are 342 miles from Bermuda, so we're about 60 miles closer than this time yesterday, which is 10 miles better than yesterday. At least we're getting closer!
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