Day 8: The Awesome Power of the Great Blargh

It is getting hard for Mel to come up with something interesting for the blog posts these days. Aside from some minor toilet and hydrogenerator issues, this crossing has not had much drama. This is good.

Mel looked back at her logs of the Bermuda-to-Azores Atlantic crossing they did back in May. Some interesting comparisons pop up. For one, the wind we had on that northern route was more variable, with winds up to 30 kts followed by days of motorsailing in 6 kts. The current was also more fickle, and sometimes it was even against us. We witnessed more squalls, as so far we have had none (although I hear they pop up closer to the Caribbean.) Also, for the few days our Parasailor lived before it exploded, it made us at least 1 kt faster than our asymmetrical in similar conditions. And of course, so far on this route we haven’t encountered the 4-6 meter seas that we had to deal with up north due to a weather system. In other words, the East-West Atlantic route (at this time of year) is steady and dependable, like a sea turtle, and the West-East Atlantic route is fickle and excitable, like flying fish.

Of course, this may just be our experience. After all, we have The Great Blargh aboard. Fortunately, so far his sheer ridiculousness has kept the Atlantic sea god, Mr. Pissypants, at bay. So maybe we have found the secret to finding a proper marine talisman: Mr. Pissypants likes surprises.

Boat stuff: 164 nm in 24 hours. Wind dropped off to 5-7 apparent yesterday for some time, then picked up to 12-15 around sunset, and now we are sailing along at 9-10. We are trying to keep our heading around 250 so we can get more securely in the southern current, and presently that means the apparent wind angle is in the 120’s. Waves are calmer today, perhaps at most 4 feet after being kicked up last night to 6 feet. Spinnaker status: Unexploded. Entertainment update: Mel and Greg finished what they had of Schitt’s Creek and are anxiously awaiting finishing off the season when they hit land. In the meantime, Buffy Season 5 has been incredibly entertaining. Allie is predicting that Peytie will win Project Runway Juniors Season 1, and Tommy is conquering his enemies in war and demanding tribute from Allie and Greg. In Civilization 5. Calm down.