34°47.9’N 46°52.1’W
SOG (Speed over Ground): 8.4 knots
Heading: 070
Distance from Bermuda: 906nm
Distance to Horta: 906nm
Half way. Wahay. We just had our half way ceremony. A bottle was thrown overboard marked with the position we are at plus a request to get in contact with us. I have captured this on video and will upload to youtube when we arrive in Horta, Faial ? which is now nearer to us than Bermuda.
We are astounded as to how quickly we’ve made the half way point. From the daily weather forecast we receive from the ARC organizers we know we’re getting closer and closer to the Azores high which will slow us down. Today has been fantastic. The sun has been out all day, the seas have settled further with waves around 2-3 feet by end of day. We’ve been able to dry a few things out and get a few hatches open to air the boat. A lot more is needed to purify four men on a boat but this was a good start.
Today we had a quick play with my sextant. We had goes at calibrating the instrument by sighting the horizon. It looks spot on. I tried taking a sun sight but was unable to do so. It was high overhead and difficult to line up. I also had a lot of filters in place ? probably too many. I was a little nervous about removing them just in case I may suddenly find my retina being burned. Not sure how to resolve this one without talking to someone who knows what they are doing.
Capt John also got the watermaker going today which is under my bunk. That required me to sort out my mess as well as change my sheets which is good for the halfway point. I was able to get a good look at the watermaker aboard. I also helped John out with a few boat chores ? tidying up lines, troubleshooting some electrical problems and replacing some bolts we removed early in the trip.
Memories of seasickness, as well as land, seem far away. Can’t believe it’s been only five days at sea. From the sounds of things we have unusually strong and steady winds for this time of year. We’ve paid the penalty with the bad weather but gained in terms of average speed. Looks like we’ll get plenty of time ashore in Horta before John’s family join and we all have to behave.
One note. John has been emailing the folks at CatCo each day with questions about the boat and the challenges we have been presented with. They have been responding every day with advice and comment. Terrific stuff.
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