avionbianca   Blog for s/v Avion

We Have Wind

Return Day 13 8/12/2014 17:00 (401 Miles to Golden Gate Bridge)

We have punched through the Pacific High and are now on its eastern edge. With the clockwise movement of wind around the High we are getting its north/northwest vector resulting in a port tack with 15 knots of wind. Since we have plenty of fuel we are motor sailing doing 8 knots which means we are probably gaining about 1 extra knot with the motor. That doesn’t sound like much but when you factor 70 hours into the equation we should be able to gain an extra 35 miles; equivalent to 6 or more hours of sailing. Besides the increased speed, the motor allows us to run the autopilot without concerns of draining the batteries. The seas are 5 to 6 foot wide swells out of the north/northwest with 1 foot wind chop across our beam. Though not a terribly comfortable ride it is much better than the close hauled course we were running the first week of the return. My arms are not nearly as tired and my fatigue factor is minimal.

We are all doing well and having a grand time. The full moon the last couple of nights has been spectacular allowing for enough light to actually watch out for nets during the night. There has been enough interesting cloud cover to allow the sunrises, sunsets, moon rises and moon sets to be fabulous photo opportunities.

At our current rate of speed the GPS puts us home sometime Friday morning but there are lots of variables that can change that so we will keep you posted. The irony here is that if we arrive before 2:30 P.M. on Friday we would have made the return trip faster than the race! Juan isn’t concerned about that, he just can’t wait for a cold beer out of Antigua’s fridge upon arrival and to see the surprise Lindi says she has for us when we see Antigua’s interior. I guess she made a lot of improvements while I was racing.

Jon