[p]pjr4728
[s]
pos: 25 29.900n 022 08.194w
sp: 4.0
h: 252m
w: 10-12 NE, CC 8/8 SS 1-1.5m NNE
d: 14/12/19 17.38 GMT+0000
3 and a bit days and about 380nm down (2,350 to go!)...All well aboard, despite pretty slow progress after a stonking start. Basically we've been making a one-legged centipede look fast for the past 2 days! Not helped by our too-conservative sailplan, but primarily due to a lightening of winds S of the Canaries...We've missed the stronger NE winds that would have (and was initially forecast to) blow us down to meet the westbound trade-wind train (that rather annoyingly has also seemed to have shifted south of where it was!) 'Bachus', a similar size NZ boat set out from the same marina in Santa Cruz 4 days before us, caught the decent winds and is subsequently now well ahead..They will no doubt be drinking rum punch on a Carribean beach for New Year while we will still be wallowing our way west!.

On the bright side we should have worked our way sufficienty far south to pick up better wnds by Sunday evening, at least for a while. Also on the plus side, the new (second-hand) Monitor windvane has been simply brilliant. This clever wee device was picked up from a FB ad for a song in Majorca and I fitted it in Tenerife. It steers the boat using only the power of the wind and waves (keeping a contant heading to the wind if this changes) and thus saves us using our electric autopilot, with the wear and tear- and power consumption - that that entails, particularly in the lumpy/rolly seas we've been having (Yes you did warn us Evelyn!!).

It is the done thing, apparently, to give your windvane a name. The crew of Bachus were fitting a flash new Hydrovane at the same time as us and came up with the very cool name of 'Florence' (the Machine) for theirs, as it is indeed a beautiful piece of engineering. Our previous windvane, a Navik, that we seldom seemed to get working properly and which broke irretrievably between Vanuatu and Australia, went by the simple moniker of 'Bastard'!! ;-).

After careful deliberation, we've now settled upon the name of 'Rach' for our Windvane, in honour of one of our closest friends - Nothing to do with her love of awesome bargains, but rather that she loves the sea, isas strong as an ox and just keeps on going and going, whatever the conditions!. And while the real Rach can't drive herself at the moment we thought it would be kind of cool if she could steer us around the remaining half of the world. Plus we are fairly sure that this is just about the only way we're ever going to get Rach aboard this boat!

TTFN...Will try and post another position report in a couple of days
S/V Windchase

(PS Sorry Brett, the Monitor WAS initially going to named in your honour, but this waterbaby just never sleeps!).

PPS A reminder that while we can't read any comments posted on yit while at sea, we do REALLY appreciate reading of the support when we arrive! Plus feel free to contact us by the following options, that we can get at sea (when we switch the phone on, which is usually once a day)

1) email to windchase@gmn-usa.com
(text only and no attachments please as the sat phone is 20 times slower than the old dial-up modems, so any attachment such as a photo or even logos can devour our data plan in short order!).

2) send an sms (txt) to 881623415310. This however may cost you a little depending on your providor(It's free for us to receive!), so a FREE option is to send an short email (like txt length) to 881623415310@msg.iridium.com, and this will get delivered to us as a txt. Please don't be at all offended if our reply may seem a bit short and slow, as the old-style phone we have requires us to type each letter via the numeric keypad, just like those early cellphones!

3) If you're feeling real rich (as it would cost you a lot) AND lucky (as we only switch phone on for a limited period each day), you can always try calling us on 881623415310. A much better idea is to send a request by txt and we can then call you using our data plan minutes!!

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