Southbound -Fifth Day - underway Newport to Tortola

I decided to call this log entry "lots of miles" for two reasons.

First of all we have covered a lot of miles so far (641) and we have a lot to go (785 at the time of this log 0000 Nov 24). The second reason is that we are currently on a tear. We have sailed 110 miles in the last 12 hours. I'm not sure we can keep this up for another 12 hours but it would be nice to better the 200 miles we did yesterday.

That's pretty good for a 48 foot cruising catamaran. The best part is that we had a nice hot meal, got some rest and watched a movie while doing it.

I look at this trip as three legs; the first is crossing the Gulf Stream, the second is passing Bermuda and the third is reaching the Easterly trades down to the Islands. We crossed the Stream early Thurs and we passed Bermuda (34 miles to our East) just a few hours ago.

Today we are hoping to reach the Easterly trades and turn South for the final leg of the journey. Conditions are very good for sailing fast and flat today. The wind is still in our favor but the seas have abated. For those of you who are sailors, you know what I mean when I say that sailing at night with 20 plus knots of wind is, well, exciting (it's currently blowing 25kts).

Tonight the winds are blowing and the boat is screaming along with very little effort. The lack of seas makes it even more interesting. Not only is this a big change from the rather bouncy ride we've experienced so far but the sound as the hull passes through the water at more than10 knots is similar to a train rushing down a track. If I didn't know the speed and someone told me we were going 50 miles an hour I would believe them. What a rush.

I sent some pics to Monique today. We took some time to snap a few shots while the sun was shining. As you can see from all the smiles, no one is having any fun :) Oh well, I need to grab a midnight snack. Stay tuned for another episode of the Midnight Log!!! Okay, maybe that was too much...I think I need some more sleep :)



Oops, I forgot to send our position.

31 28N 065 03W

Wind: from 250 @20 to 30kts

Course is 165 @ 10.5kts

Yes, very good, the boards are half way up. They make a bit of noise in the choppy seas so we need to reef them down with the up/down lines to get some sleep. Not for the log: sleeping tonight is tough. The sound and hum/vibration of the boat is wild. We also have an occasional loud slam on the underside of the bridge. About an hour ago the damn laptop jumped about an inch while I was checking our course. Everyone is sleeping on the settees in the bridge deck. Too loud in the berths. Need to bring ear plugs next time.