The seas pick up as Egret anticipates an arrival in Argentina
Day 68: conditions worsening
Position: 35° 06.29S 52° 37.51W
Course: 219°
Distance travelled: 5305.2nm from Gibraltar
Average speed: 6.6 knots
Conditions: Seas 3′-5′ building, wind 20 knots SW
Scott and Mary Flanders left Gibraltar on 16 September, and we’ll be following their journey every step of the way, thanks to this unique online “blog”. For the first instalment of their diary, click here.
In the last two hours the wind has strengthened to over 20 knots with still building seas. Both seas and wind are still from the SW. Our turning waypoint in 27nm will put the seas directly on the bow. So it looks like a two day bounce with some relief when the wind and seas clock to a more northerly direction.
Our downhill sleigh ride with accompanying speed is over for a while. Our average speed for the past 24 hours is dropping like a rock. Egret’s current speed is 4.3 knots. The good news is we will no longer have to anchor off the beach or steam back and forth offshore Friday morning on arrival at Mar Del Plata. The other good news is the tide will be nearly high. Whale Song reported a dredge mid channel (narrow to start with) at the entrance with breaking waves before and at the entrance. As the C-Map charts show, we were advised to stay tight to the northern breakwater.
Lovely. Let’s get this right. We have to drive through breaking waves with half a channel staying next to a big pile of rocks. Yup we do. At least we will have an additional six feet of water under the keel.
The beautiful albatrosses are no longer our friends. Those slime dogs have been teasing mercilessly as the photographer has been hanging on by his eyelashes risking seawater spray on the camera trying to get a picture.
On a more successful note my sweetie performed her own dance this morning making pancakes standing in her bouncing galley. In the five years of owning Egret she has only once not fixed meals because of rough weather. That first was last Monday’s dinner when the boys were sent off with an apple. An Olympic gymnast could not have made dinner that night.
