1800Z August 10, 2022

The last four days have largely been a hunt for following wind and the Gulf Stream current which meanders its way across the North Atlantic like a river. There are some charts showing its location but it’s hard to keep its direction lined up with a sailing route and the restrictions wind direction present. During some of the first 4 days I got impressive speed gains from the current but then lost it, found it again for awhile, but permanently lost it again west of 60W longitude.

The wind has generally been at my stern which can make good sailing but tricky since it can throw the boom from one side of the boat to the other, sometimes with violent speed, as the variable wind shifts direction only 5 or 10 degrees. Fortunately, I equipped Phywave with a boom brake that let’s me lock down its position regardless of the wind direction. Generally, it’s better to sail just off the wind on a “broad reach” where the angle of the wind to the stern is about 30-40 degrees. Sailboats are usually at their fastest on a broad reach but it may mean you’re not sailing in the direction of the ideal route to your destination. That’s been my situation.

I’ll arrive at the halfway point on this Norfolk-Horta passage sometime tomorrow, an important milestone, but from there the sailing will get more difficult and much slower as a high pressure system (essentially dead air with no wind in the center) builds in across my route. I’m now pivoting to the north to try to ride westerly winds on the north side of that high if it develops as forecast. It will take days to find out if this was a good decision, so unlike flying where I know within hours, sometimes minutes, whether I made a good or bad decision about the weather.

Otherwise, things are OK on board, getting to know the boat better and how it likes to sail, and monitoring consumptions on fuel, water and power. Today I’m trying to find out if I can count on the solar panels and wind generator to fully recharge the batteries after their overnight power drain. I run the navigation electronics, autopilot and refrigerator full time whick takes 12-13 amps depending on how hard the autopilot has to work. The solar panels in direct sun produce 10 times the power of the wind generator, sometimes over 20 amps. If solar panels can fully recharge the batteries it means I won’t have to run the engine at all to charge batteries, saving fuel. It’s starting to cloud over, though, so I don’t think I’ll make it today. If my generator was wired as I wanted it would charging the batteries too. I’ve got a contractor lined up in Horta to get that situation corrected.