Salty Dawg Rally Day 2

At night I keep my power usage to a minimum. All lights are LED, I use a low wattage tablet that I turn on and off and instead of using my electronic autopilot. I use my monitor wind vane to steer the boat. The only other thing that uses power is my VHF radio and AIS and I set those to low power.

I have been trying to sleep but so far no luck. I know that at some point I will be so tired that I'll be able to sleep no matter what but I am not there yet.

Just had my 2nd sleep of the night and now feel much better. The boat continues to perform very well. We are still averaging 6 knots.

Because of great progress so far I am just about to arrive at the Gulf Stream 12 hours ahead of schedule and I am greatly concerned that we will encounter rough seas from a northerly wind against the Gulf Stream flow. The wind is blowing 1o knots and seas moderate so it may be okay.

The temperature has warmed up considerably. Last night it was a freezing 45 degrees and now it is 65 because I have come up to the Gulf Stream.

2 miles to go to the Gulf Stream. Wind on the nose. SOG down to 4 knots.

Just about ready to enter the Gulf Stream. Will try to nap during the day. No caffeine to help me.

Speed down to 2 knots. Starting the engine.

Gulf Stream slowing me down 2 knots and sending me 30 degrees off course. Sea state good.

For my first 24 hours at sea I have completed 145 nautical miles and averaged 6 knots which is a PR (Personal Record.) I would have done better except for the GS.

Just got a message that the weather is going to be very bad Friday night and Saturday so I have to start thinking about how to deal with it.

My refrigerator has stopped working so now I have to do some serious eating. Also my gearbox temperature was a little high so I have backed off on my speed.

BTW the reason I am only going half the speed of yesterday's trip is because I'm pushing against the Gulf Stream. I'm actually heading S but end up going SE.

Out of the main part of the Gulf Stream and can now get along at 5 knots again. It will be the wee hours of the morning before I clear it completely.

BTW if you want to see how all the boats in the Salty Dawg rally are doing you can open their website and go to a real time map.

The Rally is not a race and most of the boats left early like us to try and get ahead of this coming bad weather on Friday.

My refrigerator is ok after all. Whew! I had put some frozen things near the thermostat so that caused it to not come on.

Even though it is pitch black outside, all the waves on either side of the boat sparkle with beautiful diamond like bioluminescence. At least I think it is.