Open Atlantic

Woke to a clear cloudless sky after an uneventful first night of watches. Wind and wave are manageable at this stage and the plan is two hour solo watches for the three crew on this transit. Two hours on, four hours off. A beautiful day on the very wide open Atlantic after clearing Bahamian waters to the South last night. As we continue east Untethered is making 11knts on a beam reach with seas and wind building thru the day.

Untethered is talking a lot of water on the foredeck as the waves are at the beam along with the wind from 90deg. She continues to slip forward shaking off the larger swells with little notice. Clearly she is built for this as each of the crew comment thru the day that she cuts the sea effortlessly.

As we approach the 24 hour mark from our departure from West Palm we have logged 230NM of our 1,200NM+ transit. If we can hold this pace thru the weather ahead we will arrive in St Thomas a day ahead of schedule. Weather forecast has a large front catching us from the Northeast overnight tonight and we expect the winds to shift around to the stern and hopefully then back on the beam from the North.

This is good news for the trip as it is anticipated the winds will then shift East and allow our turn South as we reach the Longitude of the USVI. We will then sail due south to meet the strong Easterly trade winds that will carry us into St Thomas.

Technology has certainly changed these open ocean transits for sailing vessels like Untethered, as we have been in text and email communication with shore all day receiving weather and personal updates from family and friends. It seams less remote….. as well as less of an escape. We are clearly still Tethered in many more ways than in the past. Though the downloads of new weather files into our offshore navigation software certainly reduces the uncertainty as a storm approaches It also lessens the sense of adventure. As we navigate thru the storm front overnight we may be happily trading one for the other.