| Log Entry - Saturday, Nov 12 |
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Day 2 - We enter the North Atlantic Ocean
At 1300 hours Friday we crossed over the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel and entered the Atlantic Ocean. The stout winds from Thursday night gave way to weak 8-10 knot northwesterlies. At 1700 Friday, we turned on the engine. It was about time to charge the batteries anyway, so it worked out well. Sailing is a fickle business; the ideal wind is 15-20 knots, Much more or less than that and things don’t work so well. Yesterday’s strong winds resulted from a rapid rise in barometric pressure as a high pressure system moved into the area. During the 24 hours from our departure at 3 pm on Thursday, the barometric pressure increased from 1016 millibars to 1025 millibars. The ocean was relatively calm last night, but, with a 3-4 foot swell, it raised heck with Ted’s dinner prep. A dozen eggs managed to jump from the counter to the floor. Ted was convinced the helmsman did it on purpose. Mike and Hugh refined our dual perventer system, which we have used extensively since we left. Bob is insuring that we drink enough fluids to avoid dehydration.
We are taking a more southerly route to begin with. Our weather experts recommended specific entry and exit points for the Gulf Stream to take advantage of a large cold eddy centered at 33 30n/74 15w. We are on track to enter the Gulf Stream at 35 20n/74 45w around 0800 Saturday morning. Our exit point is 34 30n/74 15w. We have shifted to four hour chart plotting since hourly plots don’t make sense on a chart where an hour of travel corresponds to about 1/8 inch. The photo of the day is from a sunset overlooking the city of Virginia Beach as we leave the sight of land for the next 12-14 days. It is a double exposure of the sunset with our ensign flying proudly from the rear backstay. All is well after our second night at sea. |