Azores > Portugal - Day 3: Taylor Swift Dropped By!

It is another day of sunshine, light winds, and calm seas. As a result, we continue to motor along at a steady 5.5–6 knots under one engine. We have been motoring, off and on, for three days.

Being a catamaran, we have two engines (Volvo 50HP). In flat seas, one engine at 2000 rpm will push the boat along at 6 knots; with two engines, we would get 8.5 knots. On long passages, we run with one engine. We alternate the engines every 6 hours or so to balance fuel consumption. Each engine has a 250L diesel tank, and we carry an additional 200L in jerry cans. This is enough for 7 days of motoring. This leg has been the most motoring we have done—3 days already and likely another day to come. Today, we transferred the fuel from the jerry cans to the tanks—best to do it now while the seas are flat.

Now, the big news featured in the headline regarding Taylor: we had a bird move onto the boat today. It is an African Swift. We called her Taylor—Taylor Swift. She was a little off course; she should be in southern Europe or Africa right now. She has been parking herself at different points on the boat.

Coffee Please

I have no idea how a bird can land on a filament line!!

Dolphins continue to drop in too, we had a big pod on the bow today: