The Maiden Factor Blog

24° 52.782N
20° 04.297
TWS 16 to 20 knots (last night 10 knots)
TWD 052 to 082°
COG 210°
Boat Speed 9.8 knots

The A2 came down at sunset, as we were at the upper wind limit for her. This was just in time for more wind to come in and send us south towards the African Coast! At one point we were only 179nm from Western Sahara. Last night was tricky with the wind changing 30° and wind speed up and down 5 knots. Maiden is 33.93 tonnes, so we need wind to push her along. She has a fantastic engine, but fuel consumption whilst motoring is a calculated and educated guess, working out as to what we need in the future for our budget fuel allowance for the generator.

It was very dark after the moon went to bed. Sailing in the dark brings all your senses to the surface. You are looking for anything unusual that could indicate something is about happen. We use red head torches to keep our night vision, we listen for the waves, and we feel with our faces any temperature drop or increase (it’s a good wind indicator).

All morning we have been on that crossover with the JT and the A2 ,and now we will put the A2 up again in the watch change. No winds back up, so on hold again! This light wind sailing is testing when the wind isn't in a good direction and we have to sail twice as far to make the same progress. We are used to lots of wind and we know we have been lucky when 12 knots feels like nothing! We have need to get down to 20° north to stay in the wind. So that's our mission.