2004

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Ocean Planet Transatlantic update:
1200 UTC, September 29, 2004
Position 45 49 N, 37 57 W.
Heading: 105/110 T, speed 15kts.

45 49N, 39 57W

I am dry here at the nav station, but there is a lot of water crashing on the deck over my head. At present our GPS speed is 15kts, and has been ranging from 12.5 to 18 as we blast along.

The southwest wind is building and will be 30+ by late tonight. We have been sailing a slightly south course at 105/110 T, but now will be able to bear away when the breeze starts cranking. As I’m writing this I have punched the buttons on the autopilot control head (we have four, two in the cockpit, one in the ‘vestibule’, and one at the nav station) a few times to bear away a bit already.

My crew has been faithfully standing watches and having a good time in spite of getting drenched. The water is warmer out here in the middle of the atlantic than it was closer to Canada, due to the cold Labrador current that moves south along the continent. But it still isn’t “warm” outside, I can tell you that!

One bit of delightful news, is that our new bow “lip” is working fantastically! We have much less water coming onto the bow of the boat then before the addtion of our strange but attractive feature. Glad I talked myself into putting it on there. Big thanks to young designer Ross Weene for helping me with the design, and to Will Rooks for the fabrication! Here is shot from yesterday, before the weather turned grey and soggy…

We are keeping the pace on, hoping to ride this windy front as far east as possible. There is some real incentive to get the heck out of here, as Tropical Storm Lisa is creeping to the north, straight south of us!

Later,

Bruce Schwab, Skipper
USA 05/Ocean Planet