Westerlies

Transatlantic: Day 21 [Day 42]

We continue to make our way East but we have removed the Northern component of our course. Why? We have enough wind!

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The winds in the Westerlies are pretty easy to navigate and sail in because you can choose what kind of winds you want to be having. The further North you go, the stronger the winds will be. The further South you go, the lighter the winds will be. If you feel that the winds are a bit light, simply sail a bit more northerly until the winds build to your liking. If you feel they are a bit too strong, simply head a bit more southerly. When you finally find the winds you like, just head East and the winds will stay constant for you!

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While stronger winds do mean larger seas, when they are following seas, they are not so bad!

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The waves come at your stern and simply slide under the overhang. The stern lifts and you surf down the wave. As the wave passes the boat, the bow goes up and the boat would normally lose its speed as it tries to climb the back of the wave, but the winds are strong and won’t let you decelerate, powering you along as you ride through the seas.

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As night falls, the stars begin to come out. This one star, probably Venus or Jupiter, is already out even before the sun has sunken beneath the horizon. We always reef down in weather like this, not because we want to go slower, but because we don’t want to be reefing in the dark. Should the winds build further, we would be over-canvassed and over-powered, necessitating us to deal with tanbark sails in the dark. Reefing early means that the person on watch simply watches and the person off watch sleeps. Nothing dramatic happens and everyone stays safely well rested.

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Thankfully, the Moon is well light in the night as we are making our way towards the Azores. I always prefer to sail at night with a full moon. It makes the mystery of the darkness wash away as your eyes adjust to the small amount of sunlight being reflected back at the surface of the Earth.

It is also very useful to judge the sea state as the moon beam lights up the tops of the waves on its way to your yacht. In your perspective, it might look like a single beam of light leading up to the moon, but everyone has this same perspective as the light from the moon is radiating out evenly in all directions and you are only able to perceive the light that is coming your way; just as someone else can only perceive the light coming their way.

Imagine if we could all see the world from other peoples perspectives? I’m sure there would be a lot less conflict!

Transatlantic: Day 16

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We are moving! Our old record of 80’s got shattered and we almost made it into the 100s club. After almost a week of sitting, we are now scooting along covering 90 nautical miles in a 24 hour period.

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One of the cooler parts of crossing an ocean is you get to see magical sunrises and sunsets. When I’m on land, I try and avoid watching the sunrise, as this means I had to get up that early. On watch, sunrise signifies that you are soon finishing your watch and will get some sleep in a moment!

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In the Westerlies, you will also need to keep an eye out for cloud formations that are going to warn you of upcoming weather far better than any Weather Fax would. 

This cloud is warning us that there is instability in the air around us and squalls can be upon us overnight.  

It pays to keep a weather eye on the clouds as changes in their shape can tell you how to prepare your sailplan before it strikes! 

Transatlantic: Day 15

The winds have arrived!

If someone tries to fear-monger you into getting a giant and expensive diesel motor for your sailboat because they tell you that you will "DIE” in the doldrums from running out of food or water, don’t listen to them.

Sailboats have made their way through the doldrums for millennia without a diesel motor. All you need are the right kind of sails! We have nylon (spinnaker material) sails for just this purpose. We have a drifter and a light air mainsail which give us a full suit of sails for these windless regions of the world.

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The best way to get out of the doldrums is to sail straight through them in the Gulf Stream. The current will keep pushing you along and you will make it through this region in about a day.

If you are like us and wandered too far from the stream, you are going to spend some more time in this region of the Earth. We spent a grand total of 4 days crossing the doldrums. Once we were on the Northern border of it, the Westerlies (winds that consistently blow from the West) popped up and began carrying us along.

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We were going downwind, and the mainsail kept fighting the windvane with weather helm. It also stole clean air from the jib, making it really annoying to us.

With the sail lowered all the way, the boom would shimmy and scoot around, making a really annoying noise and chaffing on the canopy.

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Our solution was to lower the topping lift and let the boom rest on the bimini. The friction of the boom on the rails held everything still and made for some peaceful times in the cockpit. The jib filled with clean air and produced lee helm that the windvane loved for our course.

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To make this moment even more special, we got a great sunset to match our moods as night befell us!

We were once again on the move!