Day 14 - at sea :)

Time for another update on our voyage.

First of all Congratulations to all Norwegians. May 17th is our independence day.
Normally a day of celebration with friends and family, parades and parties.
But as so much more the pandemic problem has made that most arrangements have had to be cancelled.

However, people was asked to sing our national anthem in unison at 13:02 Norwegian time.
We on Ocean Viking did the same ( at 08:02 our local time) - on the aft deck.

We have a video to proove it ;) But its too large to upload from out here at sea.

We have had various weather.
But sadly not the perfect wind that has given us the speed we had hoped for.
We had a strategy staying below 30 degrees North. That made us sail towards the east for a while. But sadly the wind died late in the evening and we found ourselves rocking around in swell/confusing seas with no speed and a consecuence of that, no steering speed. All sails down, engine started and we finally managed to point the boat in the right direction and the autopilot took care of the rest.

The day after we decided to sail above 30N - to put us in a better position for change in the wind direction.
This morning the wind swung around from the East to South West and increased to 15 knots.
We are now sailing happily doing 6 knots.Looks like we will have this wind for a few days.
We are steering 080 degrees - towards the Azores.
Distance to our destination, Horta, is now 1000 nm and we hope to arrive by the 27.05 (Geirs birthday).

We both go to sleep at night.
We take turn in waking up to check, sails, speed/course and for any eventual traffic in the area.
We have radar with a guard ring and an AIS system. They will warn us if any conflicting traffic.
Out in the ocean you don't see much traffic. On average 3-5 ships a week.
Those that come close know what they are doing and they always keep a safe distance to us.

Grete baked bread and bread rolls the other day. The smell of freshly baked bread is so nice when you are out to sea. They were eaten with good layers of butter and jam ;)

The radio connection on amateur radio to Norway has been very good the past days.
It's so nice to hear the familiar voices of old ham friends ;) I am on the air every day
at 1900Z and 2130Z on 14328. I am listening for calls on both SSB and CW.