Wrong kinda Rum?

Now almost on the Bermuda-Azores (Horta) rumb line at 36.22N and 039.45W heading 070T at about 4.5kn. We have had an adverse current against us of 1.2kn for hours on end so for 4 hours of every day we are working just to stand still! Very slow to close the Azores.

We sailed during the night on a flat sea till 6am, then motoring, then 11am the swell started, at noon we sailed again, at about 7pm we went into a kind of mid ocean tidal race which tried to shake our fillings out, then by 9pm after trying everything we were back motoring in the swell rolling like crazy unable to carry any sail. Again the swell is bigger than the wind so it knocks the rigging to pieces if you raise any sail.

Midnight now and still motoring in a 5-7kn WNW wind. Looking at the weather I don’t see any wind forecast for us. That’s the grib data. It’s been surprisingly accurate on this route. This rolling and bouncing is going to drive us crazy! But the gribs do say about 2.3m waves with no wind so it’s about right.

Thought we would see some other yachts as we got close to the Azores. From St Martin via the web we could see a steady stream arriving and leaving on AIS but I think we are quite late in this mass migration. Sighted one cargo ship today en route New Orleans.

Reading about the Russian billionaire oligarchs and maybe this will amuse you. The oligarchs met for breakfast at an expensive restaurant. The waiter was keen to point out the plush surroundings, nice curtains, exquisite wall paper….and the soft white marble tables. He said to them ‘don’t put anything sharp like briefcases on the table because they scratch’. Off he went. On returning from the kitchen he was furious to find a briefcase on the middle of the table. ‘I told you no briefcases on the table!’. One oligarch turns to him and says ‘that’s not my briefcase, that’s my wallet’.

DTG 550nm
Galley; Bacon, egg & beans, Spaghetti with (violently rolling) Pesto Genovese
Barometer 1020