What a lovely day this has been!
At 7am, I decided it was time to hoist the spinnaker - all went well until I realised the spinnaker halyard was on the wrong side of the genoa halyard & pole uphaul. Grrr! Had to furl in genoa and take down pole before I could sort it all out - by roll-call at 9am, we were moving along nicely, goose-winged with poled-out genoa (or 'wing-on-wing, as they say in the US!) and flying 'chute - looks good! Boatspeed has been excellent - up to 8kn at times, but regularly 6-7 kn. And Hermann is continuing to steer beautifully - what a relief! Means I have been able to relax and thoroughly enjoy my day.
I'm trying hard to keep heading due S, to avoid light winds to the west of us, until I get to 130N when I can begin to 'turn the corner' - hopefully.
I've just downloaded updated wx faxes - I'll keep checking where that H is to keep an eye on wind direction and change course as soon as it looks safe to do so.
If I keep up a speed of 6kn SOG, that's 144ml/day.
Having looked at wx charts & plotted a course to stay in wind - that gives a distance of 2181ml, giving ETA of 15 days from now = 16th July.
BUT THAT ASSUMES I CAN KEEP UP AVERAGE SPEED (SOG) OF 6KNOTS!!
Thought the calculation was interesting!! (Of course, should average drop to 5.5kn, that brings us to midnight on 17th July! And if I should manage an average of 6.5kn, that would bring me in on 15th July .... dream on!)
I've been playing around taking photos of Hermann and the sailplan - I'll try to attach some of them to this Winlink email.
Time to cook - I'll be making a 'ratatouille stew' - my aubergine, bell peppers and tomatoes are going off fast (result of being chilled and water-sprayed in the supermarket - annoying but unavoidable in the US!) so I'll combine them with courgettes, potatoes, meat & lots of garlic to make my favourite 'on-passage, pre-cooked' meal - should be able to store several portions in the 'fridge.
The GPS has decided it's working for most of the day (that loose wire must be connecting from time to time) so I've not had so much of the irritating constant beeping it gives when it loses the data signal. I've no sense of urgency to fix it now that I've got my alternatives working well (I'm getting good at ignoring the beeping when it happens!).... maybe tomorrow I'll have a look under that aft bunk... not looking forward to the moving of items in the way, as can be gathered! Hasta manana.
The sun has poked its head out from the cloud cover from time to time - it definitely feels a bit warmer, although it's still not warm enough for shorts!
Time for a cup of tea while I cook.....!!
(At 6pm PDT: 32 26.3N, 126 52.5W; course:170M; boatspeed: 7.0, SOG: 6.7kn)