The following is a post from Morris 48
Consulting Time II. The owner and crew are headed to the Carribean from the Med.
Greetings: Aboard
Consulting Time, it is 1945 UTC (1345 Houston time), Wednesday, 10 January 2007. Our position is N24-53/W020-45 or about 2310 nm from Barbados, as the crow flies. Our course is 233M, speed 8.4 knots, wind is 20 kn from the NE. The last time I calculated our average boat speed we have averaged 6.22 kn since leaving Tenerife. However we are about 33 nm east of our course line to waypoint 20N-30W. You will remember that we are headed for a floating bar frequented by sailors making this trip in the winter. It is called the Waypoint Bar.
It is now 2110 UTC and I just got off the radio with Herb, the weather guru, of Southbound II in Toronto, Canada. Herb has given us an interim waypoint of 22N/23W, which is about 205 nm bearing 223M. That will keep us in the better winds. We can still make the 20N-30W waypoint, however, or my crew may mutiny.
Anyhow, it was a lovely day. Even my favorite wife Pam would have enjoyed today. We continue to fly our double headsail rig and so far like it a lot. It was sunny today with a high of about 74F. It is now 67F. The seas have been 5-7′ and generally dead aft. All systems onboard are go, with the exception of the optically stabilized binoculars. I just got them back from the factory to replace the switch and within the first day they began acting up. It turns itself on periodically which chews up batteries! (Our solution is to take the battery pack off when we aren’t using them.) The good news is that we have had no reason to use them. We haven’t seen another vessel since leaving the Canaries two days ago!
For dinner tonight, Beau fixed a stew to die for. We bought a kilo of stew meat in Santa Cruz, added fresh potatoes, carrots and onions and after “stewing” for 2 1/2 hours it was great. We also fixed a lettuce, pear, dried cranberry and cashew salad. And washed it all down with a red Portuguese wine I bought in Maderia.
Beau has the watch, Bill is sleeping and I am about to take a nap before my watch at 2300. All is well. Our best to you all.
Doug and crew
