1400 – 23’18"N/68’35W – 310 Miles to the Barn

This is turning out to be one of the nicest passages ever. Sure, we’d like to have more breeze and some better angles, but the conditions are so comfortable.

We’ve been jibing back and forth, playing the squalls for wind and the barometer so we don’t get too close to the building high over the Bahamas. Wind speed is averaging 12 to 14 knots, and right now there is enough east in it that we’re on port jibe, aimed straight at Virgin Gorda. Last night we were doing a steady 20 knots, with higher surfs, ahead of one large cloud – but then it petered out (or we played it wrong in the dark).

Biggest problem we have now is overrunning the spinnaker on surfs. Occasionally we get going so fast that the apparent wind moves forward too quickly to adjust the helm, or we are inattentive, and the spinnaker collapses back on us – to fill with a mighty bang and crash.

Speaking of steering, we are learning how to drive aggressively with the WH Polar Pilot. This is a computer program, running on a PC, which gives input to the WH Autopilot. It can be used with apparent wind angles or with sailing to targets (up or downwind) which you insert for the boats requirements. (To read an article we wrote recently about the Pilot, click here.)

The PC works by giving the pilot a compass heading, or modifying the existing heading up or down, according to how it is programmed. 97% percent of the time it works great, but when winds are puffy, or there’s lots of surfing to be done, the computer does not react fast enough.

Here’s the cool part we’ve discovered. There is a 3-second delay on updating built into the PC program. This gives us time to adjust course manually, using the rotating knob on the pilot remote. What this means is that the person on watch can crank in an extra 3 to 5 degrees, to head up and start a surf, or to pull the bow down once a surf is started (or the luff of the spinnaker is starting to break). We are doing this the same way we would handle the manual helm – except for the fact that we are sitting in the pilot house, and only occasionally twiddling the dial. When we get it right, there are huge gains to be made in boat speed.

Weather between here and the finish line is unsettled, with no clear path to wind pressure or favorable reaching angles. Right now we’ve got better wind and angles than show on the faxes or the forecasts from Commander’s Weather. The barometer is dropping – now down to 1010 – and coupled with the N to NNE slant to the wind we feel we’ve got a shot at finishing sometime tomorrow evening – if things hold.