The straight-line distance between Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and St. Lucia in the Caribbean is about 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 km). There is nothing but ocean between these two points. We have passed halfway with “only” 1,128 nautical miles to go.
Of course, we do not sail in a straight line. Instead, we follow the best winds, so to make it this far—a 1,572-mile straight-line distance—we have sailed more than 1,800 miles. This is because we had to come far south to find the trade winds.
With 150 boats crossing the Atlantic together (plus another group of boats that “tag along” with the ARC), you might think we would be surrounded by other boats. Not so; it is a big ocean. The VHF radio has been silent for five days, and we’ve only had a brief AIS sighting of one boat during that time. We haven’t had a visual sighting of any boats for the past nine days.
With our repairs done, we are back on track. The winds continue to be favourable, blowing steadily from the east at 20 knots, and the seas have a very light swell of around 1 meter. These are very easy (and safe) conditions. Overnight, we saw a series of squalls pass in front of us. We were hit by one small squall, but we were well prepared. Now the sun is shining, and there are no “red blobs” indicating squalls on the radar.
From the chart plotter you can see the wind build from a gentle 18 knots to peak of 36 knots in a 10 minute period.
We are sailing on a broad reach with the full main and gennaker at a heading of 240 degrees. This course takes us south of St. Lucia, so we will need one more (careful) jibe to reach the northern end of the island.
In these conditions, there isn’t much “sailing” to be done. The autopilot handles the steering, and the sails require little trim. This gives us time to relax, catch up on laundry, and enjoy the open ocean.
Another Mahi Mahi caught this morning, the freezer is full so the fishing line is out of the water.
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