It would seem that Odyssey is of the same opinion as me and doesn’t like going to windward. You will see on the map that our progress over the last 24 hours was pathetic, due to the wind coming from exactly where we are trying to go, so we had to beat upwind. In a gentle F3 breeze this is a largely fruitless exercise, particularly with a contrary current, and this morning’s forecast predicting the same conditions for the next four days was the final straw.
After a brief discussion we have therefore decided to abandon the idea of going to Bermuda, and have altered course to the north in the hope of picking up the Gulf Stream and westerly trade winds somewhere around 40 degrees. This is some 250 miles to the north of our current position so it’ll take a couple of days to get there, then we’ll see what happens.
If the westerlies do materialise then I may well carry on to mainland Europe. I had originally planned to call in at the Azores on the way, mainly to take advantage of their low VAT rate. Since I am importing Odyssey to the EU I need to pay VAT, and it made sense to go wherever it was cheapest. However last month the Azores raised their rate from 13% to 15%, and when I add on the various fees and expenses it now doesn’t make it worth doing.
It would have been nice to see the Azores, but I’m getting very impatient now and just want to get home for some decent clubbing which I miss sorely. The sailing is great fun so I’m quite happy just to keep going till I hit France, where I can stock up on red wine and cheese before nipping back over the Channel to England.
I must also admit that the idea of sailing non-stop from mainland USA to Europe is very appealing. As I’ve said before, one of my inspirations for this trip was Francis Chichester’s book about his solo trans-Atlantic race in 1960, and he did it all the way from Plymouth (or was it Falmouth?) to New York, so it seems kind of fitting that I should do the entire trip in one go as well.
When I did my shopping last week I got far more than I needed so I’ve got plenty of food and drink, although the fresh fruit and veg won’t last more than a few days. However I’ve got plenty of vitamin pills, and lots of tins of beans, along with plenty of beer and wine, so I’m not going to starve or catch scurvy.
I’ve only got half a tank of fuel left now as I did so much motoring around trying to find wind in the Sargasso Sea, but I won’t do that again and only need to run the engine for about 45 minutes every day to cool down the fridge, so I should have plenty left for the trip.
So, I guess I can sit back, relax, and watch the latitidue increasing by the second. We’re now doing a far more satisfying 6 knots heading vaguely north and Odyssey seems happier. She is clearly a gentleman too!