October 20, 2017

For those who are tracking, their coordinates at 11:00 a.m. were
35°35' N, 70°01' W

Deb
Jake, off watch & off his feet

October 20, 2017
Atlantic Ocean

The days are already starting to get a little confusing and one blends into the other. Today was another beautiful day with sunny skies, but larger waves. To take advantage of what wind we had, we sailed as much as we could. Although that mean sailing a bit north of the rhumb line. Don wanted to come into Bermuda from that direction based on the projected winds on our arrival.

We stopped as much as we could in the afternoon for a quick ocean bath and shower. We dragged a short rope to hold on to, as we still were going way faster than we could swim. Jake used another rope to make a foot loop and hang it off the rail into the water. The life raft  was blocking the swim ladder, so we had to come up with some other way to get back on board. Once your foot was on the loop, with a helping hand you could stand up enough to grab the rail and climb onboard. The water temperature was 72 and felt very nice. Being clean again was even nicer! We rinsed off the salt water with fresh water shower head at the back of the boat.

We took advantage of the calm conditions to refill the boat and added ten gallons of diesel fuel from the jerrycans stored in the stern locker.

To pass the time we played hearts in the cockpit and just enjoyed the nice breeze. Today evening we had to motor again. I relieved Don at watch and just as I took over, I spotted a ship 90 degrees to our port side. A quick check showed it was coming on a potential collision course. It was 7 miles out and it appeared that it would pass close behind us. At five miles I was starting to wonder just how close we were going to pass, so I decided​ to as the captain. Don took over and adjusted our course  slightly, increased our speed and watched the big ship coming right at us. Don tried to contact them on the radio but there was no response. Don said he never likes crossing in front of these big vessels. We knew it would pass behind us now, but wondered how far. What are the odds, after not seeing another ship for almost two days, to find yourself on a potential collision course in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? As the sun sank into the water, the ship passed behind us 1 mile away. I took some photos as it crossed the sunset.

I zoomed in as the ship was going behind our stern.





We had another beautiful start filled night. The winds picked up and changed direction a bit after midnight and we were able to cut the engine and sail. The course was again slightly more north, we drifted off about 1 nautical mile every 45 minutes during my watch at 2 - 4 am. It was a pretty good course for sleeping when you were off watch.

No dolphins today. We may have to speak to our cruise entertainment director.

-Rod

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