Tuesday 21st July- Day 26
- dawnysmiff
- Jul 21
- 3 min read
Making the Most of the Wait
We slogged hard all morning, trying to make our target course of 70°.
Unfortunately, the wind had other ideas
.
No matter what we tried—shifting our weight around the boat to alter the trim or adjusting the daggerboard—we simply couldn’t point that high into the wind.
The best we could consistently achieve was around 40°, and even that took a lot of effort.
By lunchtime the wind and swell had built even further. The boat was being knocked around so much that we couldn’t even make a course just east of due north anymore.
At that point, the decision was made.
Back onto the parachute anchor.
As frustrating as it is, there comes a point where you’re simply wasting energy.
Our biggest concern was whether we’d managed to stay inside the favourable current before stopping. Once the parachute was set, we checked our instruments.
0.5 knots. Course over the ground: 20°.
Phew!
It wasn’t the direction we’d hoped for, but at least we were still moving east rather than being pushed backwards. In fact, when we looked at it properly, we realised we were making almost the same progress on the parachute anchor as we’d been achieving after hours of rowing ourselves into exhaustion.
Sometimes the sensible option really is the best one.
With the boat safely settled, I decided to make the most of the downtime.
Out came everything from my cabin.
I gave it a proper tidy, cleaned it up and reorganised where everything lives. The Arctic wardrobe that I’d been living in for the past few weeks is, hopefully, becoming less essential now, so the thick layers have been packed deeper into the footwell.
For the first time in quite a while…
…I dared to get my shorts and T-shirts back out and put them in my cabin bag.
I’m hoping that’s not tempting fate!
Paul has been keeping himself busy too.
One of our autopilots had developed a fault. Thankfully we carry spares, so it wasn’t a major problem, but it’s always far better to have a working spare than a broken one.
These autopilots have certainly earned their keep on this crossing.
They’ve been working so hard in the constant headwinds and confused seas that the ram arm on this one actually extended so far it unwound itself and fell off!
Hopefully Paul’s repair means we’ll have another reliable backup ready if we need it.
As I sit here writing this, the transformation in the weather is remarkable.
The sky is actually…
Blue.
The sun is shining.
If it stays like this, I might even get some washing done later.
Now all we need is for the wind direction to catch up with the sunshine.
We’ll probably stay on the parachute anchor for another few hours while I run the latest weather models and catch up with Ed, who’s been helping us interpret all the weather data.
He’s been an absolute legend throughout this crossing, and having another experienced set of eyes looking at the forecasts has been invaluable.
So for now, I’m finishing my morning coffee and pretending I’m back home, sitting on the decking with Stew, watching the birds on the feeder…
…rather than being bounced around on a parachute anchor in the middle of the Atlantic.
The good news is that the forecasts finally seem to be improving.
Hopefully we’ll be back on the move very soon.
Dawn
“Together Paul and I are rowing home — the long way round.”
Hometown Row
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