Last leg in the rally

 Last leg in the rally

Jan.13, 2017

Our three BPO boats are now underway on this last leg to Barbados. It is about 2000nm so we are setting aside about two weeks to travel. The winds are usually good, and there is a strong current from behind. We are all hoping for a faster than normal trip.

There are often some problems on the boat after you leave it for some time as we did over Christmas. We checked all the systems before leaving including the engine. Tues, with the boat mostly untied from its moorings, ready to back out, the engine stopped. No water was running through the cooling system and you could smell burning rubber. We got the boat resecured and Rob spent the rest of the day working on the engine. The impeller was the problem. A few hours later a new one was installed and everything put back together. We were fortunate that fixed the problem, and also that it did not happen when we were underway or ready to enter the harbour in Barbados.

Unfortunately, we are a day behind the other boats. Because the marina is in a tidal river, you can only leave during the hour with high tide, daylight, and an outgoing current. That meant waiting until 4:30 pm Wed. We just got through the buoys at the harbour exit a half hour after sunset. Tahawas has had some serious sail problems. They have been up the mast twice already. The sail they had repaired in Brazil ripped again. They have a lot of redundancies on their boat, so can continue to sail. No Regrets,being a light cat, loves these conditions and is flying along.

It has been a beautiful sail so far. The moon is full, the wind 10 to 15 knots from the back, and a knot of current in our favour. Today we have put up the pole to get a better wind I angle. The winds are currently from the SE. When you cross the equator, the prevailing wind will switch to being from the northeast. That should be faster as we are going WNW. Currently we are at 3 degrees south. The mouth of the Amazon is at the equator. We can't travel close enough to see anything because the delta is so extensive.