Waiting for the low

Cheyenne about to jump on to the fast lane back to Europe. Brian Thompson reports from on board

Day 54
Position at 0510GMT: 24deg 03.268N 35deg 23.529W
Course/speed: 016deg/18.0 knots
TWS/TWD: 13.0 knots/125deg

In order to stay out of the clutches of the high pressure system that now lies to their northeast and to feel the effects of a depression that is unusually but usefully has formed to their west Cheyenne has spent the last 24 hours on a course further west than the direct route to Ushant. Ushant is on a bearing of 028deg, while they have been making 350deg.

Speed-wise Cheyenne making 18 knots in 13 knots would seem to be fully arced up, the wind having freed for them over the course of last night.

Over the course of the next 48 hours the low will track slowly northeast towards the Azores opening up a welcome lane of southerly breeze for Cheyenne that could well propel the American maxi cat to the finish in less than 60 days - someone has definitely been praying to the right wind gods. The question today is how far west should do they need to go to avoid the high pressure to the east?

Brian Thompson reports from on board...

A great day's sailing out here as the wind continues to veer around towards the east and the seas start to flatten off. We are freed up now to start heading more northwards and picking up speed. We have full main and solent up now, in preference to the one reef and staysail that has propelled us cautiously through the windiest section of the NE Trades.

We are past the Cape Verde Islands now well to our SE, and we are heading far outside the Canaries. The next island group we will pass close by will be the Azores, in two or three days time.

Over the last few watches Moose has been constructing a pin to fit inside the original hollow pin that is barely holding the front beam to the starboard bow. He has made it out of pieces of batten covered in a carbon tube, which was moulded from the outside of food containers. This morning he successfully fitted it, with help from Fraser and Justin. We now have a fraction more strength in the current set up and a good safety backup in case the original pin does break. Moose's pin should keep the beam on the hull long enough to get the sails down if necessary. Hopefully we will not need it, as the upwind section of the trip should be over now, and this puts the most stress on the pin.

Already the wind has shifted to the beam and by tomorrow night we should be sailing downwind. If we are fast and lucky this downwind sailing should continue to the finish. If not, there will be a little more upwind for the last section. Currently the weather forecasts are looking really good; you could not dream of a better set up. If they come true we just need to keep the boat going without any breakages, and we will have a good finish.

Last night was another good night, with the bonus of seeing the pole star, polaris, for the first time. It was almost on the bow, and a great reference to steer by. High above us, the moon was illuminating the boat brilliantly for most of the night, and will guide us in all the way to the finish now, getting bigger night by night. This moonlight did not help the flying fish who must have bad night vision. It was looking like a fish market and at dawn I threw out at least 20 from the leeward cockpit, and apparently the watches before also spent time clearing out the scuppers.

I saved a couple of the biggest ones for Nick to photograph, and on receiving them he proceeded to get out his knife and cut them up. I thought it might be out of scientific curiosity, but when the pressure cooker and tabasco sauce came out, it became clear he had suspicious culinary motives. In fact, I had some of the results, and they were delicious. It made a great change from the freeze dried food of the last 53 days.

Dave's eye patch is still in place but he is up on watch and steering again, in mono this time. Dave is the ship's doctor and he would normally treat any injured, so Steve is looking after him. There is improvement which is good news.

The highlight of the day was passing close to a cruising boat which was sailing steadily downwind towards the Caribbean, mainsail out on one side and genoa poled out on the other. It was about 40 foot in length and we flashed by about 50 metres in front of it, on a perpendicular course. We did not want to go close astern because they might have had fishing lines out, but it was right on our course so we did want to have a good look at it. A fellow sailing yacht is a lot rarer and more interesting sight to us than a cargo ship.

As we got close we could see there was nobody on deck, so Justin shouted over as we passed at 25 knots of boatspeed. Immediately a man flew up from the hatch, grabbed the lifeline and for a second stared in disbelief and surprise. Then he waved, we waved back, and then another man came out of the hatch. Within a minute they were far behind us, rolling gently downwind.

It made our day, and we hope that we gave them a thrill to break the routine of their Atlantic crossing. We hope they have a good trip over, and make up some good recipes for the flying fish that they will be finding over the next 20 mornings, before they reach the Caribbean.

Brian