Minor Squalls

Midwatch 1-9-14 6:13 AM EST

Our weather pattern changed yesterday and we ended up experiencing our first squalls of the trip. Fortunately they were scattered and not very nasty. We doused Big Blue early and carried our genoa alone throughout the afternoon and last night. During the late afternoon and night the wind picked up to as high as 27 kts but Midwatch took it well. 

Now there appears to be a big area of calm weather that we will experience over the weekend and we are trying to decide how we want to approach it. We might be able to sneak in on the south side of it and carry on a bit better. 

We have made it this far without using the engine. We have needed to charge the batteries every couple of days but our little gas generator has worked well for that. This leaves us with virtually full diesel tanks...maybe enough to go 600-700 miles and further if you can motor sail. 

Distance from in nautical miles, Grand Canary 900, African Coast 760, Cape Verde Islands 345

The kids will get a little shower today with the solar shower. 1/2 gallon per kid! We still have lots of water but continue to scrimp. As I mentioned before Mark has developed a great system for washing dishes with sea water and that has made a huge difference. 

We have a lot of maintenance projects to work on. Hoping the swell starts to ease back soon to make it easier but we will get started regardless. The constant motion wears all kinds of things out. 

Current Position: 10:30 UTC 

20 Degrees 27.284 N 

030 Degrees 07.806 W 

Heading 218 Degrees True 

Speed 4.9 kts Genoa Poled Out 

Partly cloudy 72 Degrees night time low 

Bob, Kim, Anna, Finn and Mark