March 04, 2012-A Southern Strategy to the Atlantic Crossing.

We've run down wind south of the rhumb line for two days now pressing the boat harder than before with a full mainsail and a big genoa, polled out, and 20+ knots of wind and moderate waves, the speeds hitting eights and nines. We are trying to make the most out of the breeze before the influence of the ITCZ hits us later today or tomorrow. When that happens we can expect, based on the weather files we've been getting and the reports from the other boats on the net, lighter wind and slow going. Our strategy has been to stay south in the good wind for as long as possible then reach up in the light stuff to what we hope will be NE winds on the other side. So far this southern strategy has been working, we're about 200 miles ahead of nearest of the boats behind us, most of whom went north early. In fact our distance from the fleet has meant that we can no longer pick up the radio net they are on and must rely on the nearest boat to relay the information.

Another reason to hurry along is that our batteries are failing and we probably need to get to port as soon as possible. The new silver calcium batteries we bought Luderitz were supposed to be very good and for a few weeks they were. But recently they have been losing capacity. We've been all through the charging and electrical system, multiple times, and found nothing so the conclusion is that the batteries are failing. At this point the only impact is that we have to run the engine for 30-40 minutes (any longer is a waste since the batteries stop taking charge after that) every four to six hours. If the batteries fail completely we will still have the power from our engine but some things, the freezer is a notable example, which have to be shut off. We'd like to avoid that.

Otherwise we are doing fine: the sailing has been good, the food has been excellent, the watches easy, and we feel like we are having a good passage.

Now all we have to do is get to Brazil before the batteries fail.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, South Atlantic Ocean

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