Our good sailing continues. We had a few squalls during the night and the crew reacted well getting sail off aft to get the ship downwind. After the squalls blew out it was back to the halyards and under full sail again. Turns out all of that practise on the calm nights has paid off.
This morning also saw an abandon ship drill, one more chance to practice getting those immersion suits on in a hurry.
As we keep on the south-southwest we are in search of the north east trade winds. In the middle of the North Atlantic, roughly between Bermuda and the Azores, sits a high pressure zone. If we were to sail right into it (which would be the most direct route) we would run out of wind. As such we are headed for the belt of east and north east wind on the south side of it. This belt of winds are the north east trades of the mid-Atlantic. The high pressure zone changes its location somewhat depending on the season and other climatic changes so it can be somewhat of a search for a sailing ship to find the winds it needs to get back to the west in the North Atlantic. Judging from the freshening wind which his ever slowly veering to the north we can tell that we are headed in the right direction and within a few days might be able to make our turn to the west.
SHIP’S WORK: Shift the Main Lower Topsail; replace ratlines in the stbd fore topmast shrouds; prep and coat outer jibboom guys; replace stbd Fore Upper Topsail earring lashing; oil blocks aloft; coatings on the Main T’gallant Studdingsail boom; Sailmakers continue grommets on the new Flying Jib and begin repairs on course ‘E’
FROM: La Rochelle, France
TOWARDS: Quebec, Canada
TIME ZONE: GMT
NOON POSITION: 34°58.5’N / 014°21.4’W
DAYS RUN: 142nm
PASSAGE LOG: 1029nm
DISTANCE REMAINING: 3695nm
COURSE AND SPEED: SSW, 7kts
WIND: NW, Force 5
WEATHER: Partly sunny w/light rain squalls, air temp: 20°C, water temp: 21°C
SWELL HEIGHT & DIRECTION: N’rly, 1ft
SAILS SET: All Sail except Flying Jib and Gaff Topsail