Sorry it's been a few days since the last update, rather rolly conditions don't make staring at a screen the top priority!
After a slow first week, some much more consistent breeze arrived on the 28th and we had a few days of champagne sailing - good progress, steady sailing and sunshine. On Sunday the wind increased along with the sea state and we've now had about 3 days of stronger winds and rolly progress. Unfortunately, it's still not super fast as the wind is up and down. We have to match our sail plan to the stronger winds so end up rather slow when the wind lulls. However, the rest of the fleet are in the same situation and we seem to be doing OK.
We've had a couple of squalls with rain and stronger wind but the black cloud and rain give them away so we can reef in advance. It's forecast to ease a bit but remain fairly fresh and rolly until we finish. With big waves from behind the boat will 'surf' down the bigger ones assisted by gravity, and last night we got a new top boat speed of 15.0 knots!
We currently have 360 miles to go, so our hope is that if the weather plays ball we should arrive in about 48 hours on the afternoon of Thursday 5th, roughly 13 days after leaving Cape Verde.
We've had a couple of sobering reminders of the potential risks of crossing an ocean. While we are sailing in the ARC+ via Cape Verde, the original, and larger, ARC is currently en route from Las Palmas to St Lucia with the main fleet a few hundred miles north east of us. Yesterday morning, one yacht had a Man Overboard an unfortunately, despite searching all day with other vessels assisting, the casualty was not found and the search was stood down in darkness last night.
Also yesterday, a catamaran on the ARC started leaking, diverted towards Cape Verde but the leak got worse and they ended up abandoning to another ARC yacht. At least in that instance, nobody was hurt.
We're continuing to sail safely and conservatively, wearing lifejackets, clipping on, and looking after the boat. Fingers crossed that the next two days go smoothly and we're enjoying a Rum in Grenada on Thursday evening.
