Trip to Europe (and back) begins

[kappykaplan]

Great circle routes are lovely straight curves, dodging weather makes for rather a different route.

Yes they are. Did a similar thing when I laid out my track to bring the boat home from Ft. Lauderdale in 2008. Used the interwebs to find out where the Gulf Stream was and plotted the track to follow it. Got a 2-3 kt lift.

 

[dLj]

Yes they are. Did a similar thing when I laid out my track to bring the boat home from Ft. Lauderdale in 2008. Used the interwebs to find out where the Gulf Stream was and plotted the track to follow it. Got a 2-3 kt lift.

That's a big lift!

dj

 

[JamesG161]

Last Lat/lon sent to me.
Lat+48deg37'23" Lon-44deg55'9" Alt0-3ft GPS Sats seen: 09 2023-08-03 12:35UTC

 

[dLj]

Change of direction. Large low possibly forming so current rumb line is towards the Azores.

We will revisit in a few days.

dj

 

[JamesG161]

The weather...

2 HIGH's are making a LOW trough and Steering currents at altitude of 500 mbar are causing the rush.
Jim...

 

[kappykaplan]

Here's their track as of 1151 today.

 

[dLj]

It's a long way to Tipperary....

dj

 

[kappykaplan]

It's a long way to Tipperary....

And slow, too!

 

[dLj]

And slow, too!

Slow and sometimes difficult. Right now we are sailing in weather that would normally have me sitting at the bar having a drink saying, "not a good day to go out." Hahahahaha

It's not too bad, but for sure if you were on shore, you wouldn't head out into this. We are hoping we can avoid the worst stuff ahead. With some luck ( and the help of 2 great weather forecasters) we will succeed!

dj

 

[JamesG161]

Done by John earlier today.

Jim...

PS: Please change to Weather and Forecasting.

 

[dLj]

Just had a series of waves just rake down the side of my boat halfway up the deck house windows. That was a sight! Ha! But we are heading steady running with the hydrovane steering.

We had to go out and reef more. Fore sail at second reef. Staysail rolled in. Main about halfway down. I have boom roller furlong main so I finite reef points.

dj

 

[jssailem]

And that is not the real bad stuff.

It is either feast or famine in the North Atlantic. You didn’t share that you just left a high pressure cell that you had to power through so you could be far enough south to avoid a low no 42ft boat captain would venture into.

 

[kappykaplan]

Slow and sometimes difficult. Right now we are sailing in weather that would normally have me sitting at the bar having a drink saying, "not a good day to go out."

I know that feeling well!

 

[kappykaplan]

Done by John earlier today.

Jim...

That's not a particularly good place to be, but it beats being on the northeast side of the system.

 

[dLj]

That's not a particularly good place to be, but it beats being on the northeast side of the system.

We are aiming for the best we can do.

dj

 

[dLj]

And that is not the real bad stuff.

It is either feast or famine in the North Atlantic. You didn’t share that you just left a high pressure cell that you had to power through so you could be far enough south to avoid a low no 42ft boat captain would venture into.

What he said!

 

[kappykaplan]

We are aiming for the best we can do.

Good on ya, with @jssailem and @JamesG161 assisting.

 

[dLj]

Good on ya, with @jssailem and @JamesG161 assisting.

Oh yeah, thank God for those two!!!!

dj

 

[Hayden Watson]

So you are going to the Azores? For some reason I thought you were heading to Ireland.

 

[dLj]

So you are going to the Azores? For some reason I thought you were heading to Ireland.

Route to Ireland got canceled due to weather. Might go to Azores, weather patterns will dictate. If things look good, we may dance around a major low and shoot straight to Portugal/Spain. Don't really know yet. Time will tell. Stay tuned for the next chapter. What will it be? Azores? Spain? Portugal? Put your money on the table. The wheel is spinning...

dj