Four days ago at our last update, we were pretty concerned about the massive 1000nm wide wind hole that had developed over the SW Atantic. With the boats having about 700nm motoring range, they had to find more wind! Luckily, they have found more wind than was forecast and they have been sailing at least 50% of the time, maybe more. There is now a large low pressure system a few hundred miles to the north of them. The bottom edge of this is giving them SW winds – ie directly from the direction of St Lucia, so suddenly their nice downwind blast across the Atlantic has turned into a highly tactical tacking game. The wind should go NW later, allowing them to head once more towards their goal.
Starling’s latest blog below.
Watch CBlog – Starling
After our 38th W Party, two big events! First we caught the champion Dorrado so far. At 20gk in weight (we think) and 1.2m in length (we measured!) this is the biggest fish so far and frankly we don’t know how we could deal with a fish bigger. It provided us with four tasty meals!
Following the fish catching and filleting, the weather changed. SQUALLS! Skipper Paul managed to dodge a few, but we could not dodge them all, at one time there were 7/8 on radar at once. Whipping winds, rain and spray along with big waves showed us a taste of what the mid-Atlantic could offer. But then, as quickly as they arrived, they departed. Leaving us with low wind, sunnny skies and smooth sea.
The winds kept dropping until still and so we “pulled over” and set out buoys and the rope ladder. We were going for a swim in the middle of the Atlantic. The water was warm and it was incredible to paddle and bob about in our swin suits, so small in such a vast place.
Ask us and we can let you know the location of our swimming hole!
