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Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Atlantic Ocean, 1478NM WSW of Mindelo

In the morning the sleeping off watch was awoken to take down the Parasailor. A series of squalls were approaching and they can bring with them a fair bit of wind. The first came while the parasailor was up and with it, the wind went from 7 to 22 knots in seconds. The rule of thumb is, squall without thunder is up to 25kn and with thunder up to 50kn of wind. We got the parasailor down , with what by now is a good routine and hoisted only the staysail instead. With the following squalls we saw winds up to 28knots.

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After the squalls had passed, the wind basically died down completely, so we decided to leave only the staysail up as we drifted along bobbing up and down. As the wind slowly started to fill up Suski rolled out the genoa and when Henri was awake again it was time to hang the parasailor up to dry.

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From the logbook

Time Position Course Speed Log Weather Remarks
14.01. 0:00 Z 12°18'13"N 47°33'18"W 260° 5.3kt 9961.8NM wind 15.8kt 49° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 1:00 Z 12°17'54"N 47°38'27"W 280° 5.7kt 9966.9NM wind 14.1kt 36° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 2:00 Z 12°17'21"N 47°43'25"W 277° 6.4kt 9971.8NM wind 14kt 57° baro 1015 hPa Dolphins in the dark and Suski on watch.
14.01. 3:00 Z 12°17'10"N 47°48'20"W 271° 5kt 9976.7NM wind 12.6kt 40° baro 1015 hPa Dolphins again!
14.01. 4:00 Z 12°17'32"N 47°53'14"W 294° 4.2kt 9981.5NM wind 12.1kt 44° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 5:00 Z 12°18'4"N 47°57'56"W 265° 5.1kt 9986.2NM wind 10.9kt 27° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 5:02 Z 12°18'4"N 47°58'4"W 280° 4.7kt 9986.3NM wind 12.5kt 62° sea state 4/10 clouds 1/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Sailing under the bright full moon is just perfect.
14.01. 6:00 Z 12°18'56"N 48°2'9"W 265° 2.9kt 9990.4NM wind 10.1kt 45° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 7:00 Z 12°19'44"N 48°5'48"W 265° 3.3kt 9994.1NM wind 8.2kt 33° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 8:00 Z 12°20'19"N 48°9'27"W 248° 3.2kt 9997.8NM wind 7.1kt 47° sea state 3/10 clouds 5/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Bergie on watch
14.01. 8:30 Z 12°20'17"N 48°11'13"W 267° 2.1kt 9999.5NM wind 4.7kt 26° baro 1015 hPa Parasailor has a hard time staying filled as the wind drops
14.01. 9:00 Z 12°20'20"N 48°12'54"W 271° 3.6kt 10001.2NM wind 9.3kt 53° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 9:41 Z 12°20'4"N 48°15'39"W 237° 5.4kt 10003.9NM wind 17.4kt 19° baro 1015 hPa Gusting to 22kt and now there is rain. Squall I suppose
14.01. 10:00 Z 12°19'19"N 48°16'50"W 274° 2.5kt 10005.3NM wind 15.9kt 32° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 10:07 Z 12°19'9"N 48°17'6"W 248° 3.7kt 10005.6NM wind 13.6kt 27° sea state 4/10 clouds 8/8 visibility 6/10 baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Staysail. The next squall looks angrier
14.01. 11:00 Z 12°20'16"N 48°19'25"W 337° 2.4kt 10008.4NM wind 6.4kt 132° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 12:00 Z 12°20'32"N 48°21'15"W 280° 1.9kt 10010.3NM wind 6.8kt 76° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 12:06 Z 12°20'36"N 48°21'30"W 267° 2.9kt 10010.5NM wind 12.7kt 57° sea state 4/10 clouds 5/8 visibility 6/10 baro 1015 hPa Third squall, let's see how this one is
14.01. 12:15 Z 12°20'54"N 48°22'10"W 307° 5.4kt 10011.2NM wind 22.6kt 64° baro 1015 hPa Have to say I'm glad we took the spinnaker down, gusting to 29kt
14.01. 13:00 Z 12°21'51"N 48°24'23"W 294° 2.2kt 10013.6NM wind 8.9kt 85° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 14:00 Z 12°22'37"N 48°26'21"W 261° 3.4kt 10015.7NM wind 7.2kt 36° sea state 3/10 clouds 5/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Suski on watch
14.01. 14:31 Z 12°22'55"N 48°27'8"W 312° 2.2kt 10016.5NM wind 5kt 80° baro 1015 hPa Autopilot activated. Steering to compass course as the wind is nonexistent and going all over the place.
14.01. 15:00 Z 12°23'3"N 48°27'50"W 265° 0.8kt 10017.3NM wind 0.9kt 3° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 17:00 Z 12°23'30"N 48°30'59"W 292° 1.8kt 10020.4NM wind 4.4kt 344° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 17:49 Z 12°23'44"N 48°33'13"W 263° 3.6kt 10022.6NM wind 8.3kt 38° baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Genoa 1
14.01. 18:00 Z 12°23'50"N 48°33'51"W 259° 3.6kt 10023.2NM wind 9.6kt 51° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 19:00 Z 12°24'21"N 48°37'16"W 282° 3.7kt 10026.6NM wind 7.9kt 56° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 19:00 Z 12°24'21"N 48°37'18"W 276° 3.8kt 10026.6NM wind 9.3kt 56° baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Parasailor
14.01. 19:16 Z 12°24'32"N 48°38'28"W 273° 4.7kt 10027.8NM wind 9.3kt 77° baro 1015 hPa Autopilot set to wind mode
14.01. 20:00 Z 12°24'53"N 48°41'20"W 291° 4.6kt 10030.6NM wind 11.8kt 51° sea state 3/10 clouds 3/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Bergie on watch
14.01. 21:00 Z 12°25'48"N 48°45'4"W 276° 3.2kt 10034.4NM wind 8.2kt 70° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 21:04 Z 12°25'53"N 48°45'18"W 296° 4.2kt 10034.7NM wind 9.1kt 56° baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
14.01. 21:37 Z 12°26'39"N 48°47'30"W 297° 5.3kt 10037NM wind 18kt 77° baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Main, Genoa 1 (30% furled)
14.01. 22:00 Z 12°27'25"N 48°49'19"W 296° 4.6kt 10038.9NM wind 11.5kt 93° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 22:06 Z 12°27'35"N 48°49'44"W 307° 5kt 10039.4NM wind 13.9kt 87° sea state 3/10 clouds 4/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Moon is up
14.01. 22:11 Z 12°27'43"N 48°50'3"W 297° 3.3kt 10039.7NM wind 12.4kt 74° clouds 3/8 baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Main, Genoa 1. Looks like that squall missed us
14.01. 22:45 Z 12°28'27"N 48°52'18"W 263° 5.4kt 10042NM wind 17.7kt 54° clouds 6/8 baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Main, Genoa 1 (30% furled)
14.01. 23:00 Z 12°28'28"N 48°53'45"W 273° 5.7kt 10043.5NM wind 18.4kt 51° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
14.01. 23:43 Z 12°28'23"N 48°57'46"W 273° 4.5kt 10047.4NM wind 16.6kt 44° sea state 3/10 clouds 5/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa That was a second squall that just missed us. Now sky looks quite clear upwind
14.01. 23:52 Z 12°28'20"N 48°58'31"W 261° 5.4kt 10048.2NM wind 12.8kt 41° baro 1015 hPa Sails set: Main, Genoa 1