Lat- 42-54N
Long-58-08W
The Picton Castle sails along under main t’gallant in light overcast making about 6-7 knots in under 20 knots of wind abeam. Seas are under a metre. We are steering ESE for south of the tail of the Grand Banks, with the objective in mind of avoiding too much fog and icebergs that show up on our iceberg charts of that area. This also gets us closer to and eventually into the Gulf Stream where the water will warm us up considerably as well as give us another 12 miles a day boost in speed while we ride it. The Gulf Stream is quite the phenomenon. Because of this current, which is primarily over heated water from the Caribbean, palm trees actually grow in southern Ireland and SW England in Cornwall, strange but true. I have read somewhere that if the Gulf Stream should slow down, cool off or give up entirely; this would set off an ice age and do it pretty quickly. Just to make it more exciting, apparently it wouldn’t take much to tip the Gulf Stream into submission. Stay tuned.
Last night we took in mains’l, t’gallants, outer jib, and spanker in expectations of stronger breezes according to our weather forecasts. Didn’t come to pass but we still have a weather eye out as this is the North Atlantic and to think we are going get across without a gale is wishful thinking. It was a good exercise to handle sail anyway. But so far, every day the sea-water temperature has gone up a degree or so and across the western ocean we must wander…
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