Florida current

2 May 2017

After leaving Cuba it was, due to the wind and waves, quite difficult to go back to the Atlantic Ocean. Once we came across the Grand Bahama Bank it became easier. The firm wind, shifting from East to Southeast, caused us to have a great speed.  And the Florida current also pushes us forth. Behind the Bahamas, the Antilles-current joins the Florida current, together they form the Gulf stream. With 8, 9, 10, 11 knots we sailed, so we got way ahead on schedule. The American authorities don’t allow an extra stopover in a US port, so we tried our best to reduce speed. At night we only sailed on our foresail, and still we went with 10 knots ahead. To avoid speeding, we went closer to the shore. Using more sails and less current we sailed forwards with 8 knots on average. The weather is challenging. The first days we had lots of showers. Today (Monday) the wind is 7 BFT, waves up to 3 meters and it’s extremely humid. The barometer is down by 4 points and lighting is everywhere around us. According to the forecast, the wind will suddenly shift 180 degrees tonight. We will try to profit from the wind while we can, but are alert on what might happen the next few hours.