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29/11/2019

Umiko - Blog 3 day 5 from Bazz

Arise Sir Polly The InvertorDay Five of our odyssey.Umiko continues to successfully wrestle with relatively light airs and constantly shifting wind angles. At mid-day, ARC HQ advises us that we are now currently third overall in the Racing Division and morale is high. Astute navigation tactics from Olly (to gybe the boat west at 23 odd North) peels Umiko away from the rump of the fleet with only Ulisse and Stay Calm our immediate neighbours on the water. Crew teamwork is now developing a metronome with hoists and drops typically taking place around watch changes. After four days, all the crew now know their respective stations and it’s clicking…At 16.00hrs, after a period of settled 7-9 knots constant breeze we hoist the A2 and set a course of 270 degrees. A beautiful evening under a. read more...


29/11/2019

Zan - Happy Thanksgiving

All fine on Zan, we had a good Thanksgiving celebrating with a delicious roast chicken dinner cooked by Martin, unlike Sue on Spindrift we didn’t find a turkey in Mindelo. The day started with rain and wind squalls which gave the deck a good wash and after a light patch settled into a pleasant day under spinnaker, which needed little supervision, so before supper and canapés , wemanaged a few rounds of Mexican train dominos, it’s all very tense with only one point between three players, so like the sailing all to play for!Martin, Paul, Dan and Peter. read more...


29/11/2019

Zaurak - Zaurak's bimbling blog

Zaurak's bimbling blog Thursday 28th November 2019WE WENT SWIMMING! There is good news and bad news. The good news is that we went swimming in the Atlantic: 26 degrees and glorious. The bad news is that the reason we were able to go swimming is because we have a flat calm: 3 knots of wind and less than 1 knot of boat speed. The calculations of one mile an hour, with 2300 miles to cover... let's not do the calculations and hope for wind in the coming days and weeks. -Today's activities- Claire and Adrian came off watch at 6am. Still very dark. Claire thought she had sensed a whale close by.Richard and I were on watch from 6am until 9am. At around 7am, I heard someone huff out of their nose on the port side of the boat. I checked and Richard was still where I saw him last, at the chart. read more...


28/11/2019

Sally - At watch another beautiful night

Despite all clouds that we saw before sunset, most of the starry sky is visible, with the Milky Way streching over the sky behind the stars. Universe is so big that it is unbelivable. Crossing the big Atlantic ocean is nothing compared to the distances in space. While sitting here beeing philosophic, the echo sounder suddenly changes from ”to deep to measure” to 35 meter of depth and continues to show a depth between 32 to 39 m for several minutes and I started to make fantasies about what it is 30 m below the boat in the dark water. I have a spotlight that I use to light up the water, but the only thing that shows up are hunting squids swimming just below the surface. They have red glowing eyes and races through the water in the hunt for something to eat. Then, suddenly, the echo. read more...


Amari - Pics for Day 8
Amari - Pics for Day 8
Amari - Pics for Day 8
Amari - Pics for Day 8
Amari - Pics for Day 8
Amari - Pics for Day 8
28/11/2019

Amari - Day 8 Thanksgiving

Today is my most favorite of all our holidays, called Thanksgiving. Whereas Christmas time has become this garish explosion of gift giving, Thanksgiving is about family and food and friendship and fun. This holiday commemorates the time the original pilgrims, who were starving and couldn’t figure out how to live in this strange new land, were helped by the American Indians, who taught the visitors how to grow their own produce and survive.How we returned the favor (taking their lands and banishing them toreservations) never made it in the story somehow.We use this holiday as a time to give thanks for what you have, and focus on the things that matter most. It’s example is the fabled feast they shared with the Indians – yes, okay actually the Indians were the ones doing the sharing. For. read more...


28/11/2019

Meltemi - Tag 5: Bordbuch der Meltemi, Funkspruch vom Tage

Hi folks, hi folks, hi folks, -this is sailing vessel Meltemi, Meltemi, MeltemiBordzeit: 20.17 UTC Position: 20°01,4'N; 019°39,8'WDo you read me loud and clear?Heute beginnen wir mal mit Funkspruch. Einige haben sich sicher gefragt, warum wir nicht erwähnen, wer von uns welchen Spruch herausgehauen hat oder wer für was an Bord zuständig ist. Nun, wir halten uns an die alte Weisheit: keine Namen über Funk! Wir wollen uns ersparen, was einem früheren Mitsegler auf der Meltemi passiert sein soll: da wurden seine Kochkünste im Blog gerühmt, und anschließend mußte er sich zu Hause verantworten (grins...). Also pauschal: es geht uns allerbest. Und wir werden heute ausnahmsweise von der Regel abweichen (siehe unten).Heute schreiben wir Donnerstag den 28.11.2019. Es ist schon soweit, daß wir uns. read more...


28/11/2019

Amadeus - How to fish a drone

My home country, Hungary is a landlocked country , we do not havesea. We have a beautiful lake, Lake Balaton, where we can sail. I do enjoy Balaton, the beatiful scenery, the warm freshwater to swim in, good wines , good food around the lake. What i really miss is the wind. Balaton is famous for itslight and unpredictable wind.Unfortunately I do not like to sail without wind.This is the reason why I am here: to sail in the most predictable wind of the Earth, in the trade winds. Constant NE direction, 15-25 kn.Sounds good.In reality we have 2-4 kn wind, from rapidly changing direction. It is worse than at home :-)Quite boring day. No wind at all. What can we do? Swimming, ok, ...eating..drinking a beer, fishing, .. swimming, eating... fishing... and what else..???Yes, we can fly THE drone. read more...


28/11/2019

Hello World - First days at sea!

We are now going into the 4th night (?) and we have done great progress. Finding it hard keeping track on whar day it is. Before starting we did not have any idea of how this journey would be. The longest sail offshore we have had is 4,5 days from Lagos Portugal to Las Palmas. Considering our sailing experience I think we are doing pretty well. Hello World is our first boat and we bougth her unseen when it was in Bermuda and we got the boat in early July in Norway. We started our trip to Las Palmas 16. July from Stavanger, Norway. Håkon have done some sailing in holidays, but none of us has any experience to brag about. We just learned on our way and on this passage we learned more about our light wind sails. We love them!When we sit here writing we are first in our class (1E), 11. read more...


Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
Hello World - First days at sea!
28/11/2019

Cross Ocean - 27/11 - SY Daphne sailing into the sunset

Log 3 - Enjoying a beautiful sunset while watching SY Daphne heading into it! So far we have had wonderful days with very light winds. So far we have seen turtles, dolphins and pilot whales, sweet!Best regardsMalin and Kaj image1. read more...


Cross Ocean - 27/11 - SY Daphne sailing into the sunset
Cross Ocean - 27/11 - SY Daphne sailing into the sunset
28/11/2019

Nizuc - Blog 14 Nizuk

BLOG 14– What a WasteTuesday night: Martin made scones. It is too calm for drop-scones. Delicious, of course.The boat is stable, and things stay where you put them. If you want to play this one at home, go into your bathrooms...Sorry, someone just chucked a bucket of water through the cabin window....and slam the door; that’s more wind than we are getting. If you run a bath, sit in it, and reach for the hot tap, then that would make a bigger wave than we’ve seen all day.We saw a brown whale at lunchtime; we are guessing it was about 10 metres long, but that may increase with time.People have asked us about using a water-maker (to filter salt out of seawater), and carrying so much plastic. We made a decision, early on, not to use one, due to the possibility of failure, or contamination.. read more...


28/11/2019

Skyelark of London - Happy Thanksgiving

Day 4 has found us motoring due to very lightwinds.  We have been visited by apod of dolphin with clear skies leading to some cloud cover, which isappreciated.  The crew members fromthe US have been working on our feast. So far, we have prepared an original form of pumpkin pie, using pumpkinsoup as the key ingredient.  Alsoready are squash with apples and cranberry sauce.  The turkey was spatchcocked.  Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravystill need to be prepared.  As Iwrite we are turning off the motor and going for a swim, before the final pushto prepare the feast.Skippers note - Andy and Kitty did the most amazing job of bringing the delights of theThanksgiving holiday to Skyelark - planning ahead of time,  packing  the  the. read more...


Skyelark of London - Happy Thanksgiving
Skyelark of London - Happy Thanksgiving
Another Brick - Fish on
Another Brick - Fish on
28/11/2019

Another Brick - 11-28 Slow progress - good fishing

The bad news is that there hasn't been much wind out here, but the good news is that less speed means more fish. We caught our third Mahi-mahi today :-)Unfortunately with the third fish, our fishing rod broke for the second time already. It seems that it was intended for only catching one single fish :-(Well, we'll try mending it again tomorrow.. read more...


Sally - Finally at sea
Sally - Finally at sea
28/11/2019

Sally - After four days at sea

Hi, since the start we have a constant searching for wind. We have been out four days now and are only around 430 M from Las Palmas and still have more than 200 M left before we are at the turning point into the trade winds. The forecast from PredictWind continues to predict light wind in the area. Each weather bulletin from ARC is so positive predicting at least 10 knots of wind and we got that for shorter periods and then the wind is down to 3-8 knots from ENE. The positive thing with this is that we got plenty of time fixing small things, got a gentle transfer from life in a harbor to life at sea.We have adopted to the life on board with watches, sleep, cooking good food and have a nice time while waiting for wind. We still see some boats around us and infortunately some of them turn. read more...


28/11/2019

Salamander

Hello Salamander Nation,After three days the celestialnavigation team was able to find Polaris, despite the cloud cover, and took some sights. Polaris, commonly known as the North Star, is an importance reference point for celestial bodies as the stars appear to rotate around it. Ethan took a series of sun sights andcalculated our position withina few miles of our actual position. Kevin did a noon sight and calculated our latitude within a couple of miles of actual. Should the GPS fail we will be ready!Happy Thanksgiving!Jimmys Word of the DayModeration:Avoidance of excess or extremes.The Crew of the Salamander. read more...


28/11/2019

Verbena - Day 5 - Turned the corner

Last night, before dinner, we jibed over to starboard and started our march west.  And by march I really mean a large scale meander.  Over the next few days, we’ll be banana curving our way towards our St. Lucia rhumb line; getting lifted as we go, then zig-zag our way to the finish.  That’s the plan as of now.Seas have been smooth and winds have been light.  Our Asym A3 has been our work-horse.  The combo has made smooth easy conditions.  We are making a Thanksgiving dinner today; one thing we we will be thankful for are relatively good offshore cooking conditions.  — Bill. read more...


Verbena - Day 5 - Turned the corner
Verbena - Day 5 - Turned the corner
28/11/2019

Albatros - Albatros - DAY 4 - Stories of AlBÄRtros

Es war einmal eine BÄRENfamilie, die wollte den Atlantik überBÄREN. Sie entschieden sich für BÄR-Boat-Charter und landeten auf der AlBÄRtros, das BÄRENboot mit dem LegendBÄR (Manfred) als BÄRENskipper. Er hat schon alle sieben WeltBÄRE bereist und navigiert mit seinem BÄRENgespür. An einem schönen BÄRigen Tag kam der Papa-BÄR (Martin) an Deck und sah seine BÄRENfamilie gemütlich in der Sonne BÄRlaxen. Der Zick-Zack-BÄR (Ernst) hatte an diesem BÄRENtag GeBÄRtstag. Zur Feier des Tages entschied der Papa-BÄR mit seinen Pranken zwei Mahi-Mahi aus dem BÄÄR zu fischen. Bevor jedoch das BÄRENmahl zubereitet werden konnte, geschah ein unBÄRiges Unheil. Der Motor lud die BÄRtterie nicht mehr. Der Cargo-BÄR (Markus) und der Engine-BÄR (Franz) stiegen hinab in die Tiefen des Motorenraumes. Dort. read more...


28/11/2019

Amadeus - How to fly a kite

Day 3.Our just saved, good old gennaker is so weak that we have to drop it in every few hours to repair the small holes appearing in the sailcloth again and agin. Fortunately my daughter brought us the very old spinnaker I had at home. It was the orginal spinnaker of Amadeus, arrived with boat. It is cc. 25 years old, and has never been used by us and rarely by the original owner.The only information I got from the orginal owner is that it is huge and needs big trained crew.The spinnaker boom was cut into two pieces once for some reason. I spliced the aluminium tube just before the ARC to have something on the boat to make jury rig if necessary. But Ibought brand new end fittings, just in case... Andfinally we have a spinneker and also have spinnaker boom on deck. Why not try them?After. read more...


28/11/2019

Cuvee - Day 1 to 4

4 days out in The Atlantic now and the dream has become a reality. Routines are pretty much in place and now there is time to fill in so our blog will have to start late and I will end endeavor to keep it going. There are the daily weather updates and fleet movements overnight to catch up on each morning and then daily running chores. The engineer in me can’t be held back and each day I put the CSV fleet update email file into a spreadsheet to analyse the data. Currently the fleet is spread out over 170Nm north-south and over 200 miles east-west!The Canaries were a busy week of provisioning, sorting out the yacht (the chandleries must do a killing so many people buying little bits and pieces), and generally partying. It was very social with sundowner drinks (basically a happy 2 hour. read more...


28/11/2019

Lubilu III - At sea: 0 to 96 hours

Feels like an age away since ‘le grand depart’ (and rushing about for last minute butter and fresh milk). It was impressive to see so many boats all in one place, popping up spinnakers and racing over the start line. Last minute phone calls made and photos uploaded, we were on our way!Watch patterns were setup from the start, 3x 4hour shifts during the day, 4x 3hour shifts at night moving through crew alphabetically. With 7 shifts to cover it also rotates the pattern naturally!Plenty of downwind spinnaker use so far and batteries being topped up by solar. Although it has been a bit cloudier than expected so far and as composing this email,our first bit of rain at sea!Night sailing is currently inky black (with no moonlight) with plenty of stars to gaze upon, looking forward to the rising. read more...


28/11/2019

Oarsome Dream - Log 28th Nov - Drones, no Dolphins (for me)

Hello from Oarsome Dream!Since the last blog we’ve had pretty light winds hence the general slow down but we have finally been able to gybe west this afternoon so hopefully our VMG should start to pick up again!Yesterday just before lunch was so light that we pulled our sails down becuase we were fed up of them slapping around. We used the stop to tip buckets of salt water over ourselves on the transom and have a fresh rinse - it was super hot and felt amazing to have clean hair again. Last nights dinner was bangers and squash mash with oven gravy a la Stu - yummmmmFrustrating night in light winds heading mainly towards Africa in the company of a Swiss Grand Soleil 46 ‘BlueOne’ and our Solent friends, Challenger 2. Stu saw the dolphins overnight, not me thought, its true, I am dolphin. read more...


28/11/2019

Amadeus - Amadeus mast walk

No wind, time to blog.Have you seen Alex Thomson's mast walk?Seemed fun, why not try something similar :-)On thesecond day, just after we finally agreed on the tactics, in absolutely ideal sailing conditions I wrapped the gennaker around the forstay. When I tried to engage the autopilot we run into a lull and due to a momentary lack of concetration, it just happened.Have you ever had such a situation? If the wind fills the sail on the wrong side, it is not easy to resolve. There was no chance to arrangefromdeck.I climbed up the mast. The wind started to increase immediatey and the little swell swung the tip of the mast meters from one site to the other. It was not possible to wrap it back to the right side so after a good hour of wrestling I decided to cut it down. I was lucky enough to. read more...


Amadeus - Amadeus mast walk
Amadeus - Amadeus mast walk
28/11/2019

Celtic Star - Blog 4 Thursday 28 Nov

    "you shall have a fishy on a little dishy you shall have a fishy when the boat comes in" As if to give lie to yesterday's blog, no sooner had itbeen posted-up when the boat come in. We caught a lovely yellow dorado;which we fried in butter with sauted potatoes, leeks, courgette and frenchbeans. A wonderful fish supper.No fishing today, we have had sufficient fishfor the momemnt. But tomorrow, perhaps, the boat will come in oncemore.Early this morning we entered the Tropic of Cancer and, predictably, weexperienced a squall a few hours later. The Trade Winds are not yet with us,we are currently all-but becalmed, but they are forecast to set in within a fewdays.Ian Jenkinson, Celtic Star   . read more...


Meltemi - Tag 2
Meltemi - Tag 2
28/11/2019

Challenger 1 - Crew Blog Challenger 1 27/11/19

27/11/19This morning we gyped because we change the course to go to west. Skipper made us good pancakes for breakfast for all the crew. Nearly caught a fish because it broke our line and between some dolphins we see a sunfish. We have been moving our average sped from 5 to 4 knots.Around 13:00 Gary gave us a little briefing about the next days’ schedule and after eating couscous with vegetables we go to rest in bunks.On next watch around 22:00 we hit 7 knots and we were very happy, only 2.468nm more to get in St. Lucia.Blog by Michele and Tyrus (Red Watch), questions answered by Ariana & EnriqueWhat are your expectation about the food for Christmas­ on boat?Fortunately we are going to have Christmas dinner in Spain, so we are not worried about that.How are you doing with living in so. read more...


28/11/2019

Challenger 1 - TS Crew Blog 27/11/19 Challenger 1

Day UnsureWe are well underway and all finally understanding the watch system and what is required. I will start with my thoughts on the first few days. Race day had arrived and although being on land was entertaining I felt it was finally time to get sailing and see how this team of St Lucians, Gran Canarians, Swiss and British would pull together and work as one. The team has been great, and as always the universal language of music and my dulcet tones certainly get a few remarks in all languages, but the karaoke must go on.My words on Day (3-4?), we ended watch at 7am on a beautiful sunrise, knowing that when we would awake a lovely lunch would be waiting, this would be the energy needed to propel us through the shift as light breezes have set in. Of course with the lovely day. read more...


28/11/2019

Jua Kali - The Jua Kali Report - Day 4

Day four brought more of the same for the Jua Kali crew, reaching a bit north of west with our bright orange A5 up until a squall in the night forced us to take it down and continue under main and jib.Putting some north in at this point seemed odd but has hopefully enabled us to avoid the worst of several large wind holes further south, although at the time of writing we don't have too much wind ourselves! Still, we are moving which is more than some boats further south will be we think.A crisis was narrowly avoided when it was discovered that our entire supply of toilet paper had been slowly dripped on by a small leak in a pipe fitting, luckily it was caught before the rolls were completely destroyed and they were promptly hung out to dry in the sun (pictured). God only knows how this. read more...


Jua Kali - The Jua Kali Report - Day 4
Jua Kali - The Jua Kali Report - Day 4
Amari - Day7 image for post
Amari - Day7 image for post
28/11/2019

Amari - Day 7 Sailor Standards

We had more amazing weather today, with light caressing winds of 10-15 kts over the stern quarter and sunny skies to warm your skin.And to think, a mere 1,211 miles to go of this wonderfulness.So today, we decided it was get-a-shower day on the SV Amari. After all it had been … what day is it today … wait we are in November right … yeah so it’s been a while. And I feel you getting all judgy with some land-lubber snark about, “Well yeah I guess it HAS been a few days then[snort]”.But let’s face it, we’re on a boat in the middle of an ocean. Standards change out here for hygiene and clothing. If you were in a standard town in Anywheresville, Generica and you showed up to work or the mall or your yoga class in the clothes you had on yesterday, people would be like, dude THAT shirt again?. read more...


28/11/2019

Next Step - Wednesday 27th November 2019

Overnight the wind has been very light and variable with a brief rain shower in the early morning. We had breakfast and as always seems to be the case, started planning for the next evening meal…! The Hydrovane aka Dobby was set to work steering the boat in the light wind. Thankfully, the morning rig check did not reveal any rig parts lying on the deck. A number of yachts appear to have seen whales and dolphins, but we have seen none so far only a few distant sea birds. Most of the yachts that have been on the horizon for the last few days have disappeared. Lunchtime and David made us some ham and avocado wraps which were very tasty. Because of the lack of wind for the wind generator and not enough sun for the solar panels we have resorted to running the engine to top up the batteries.. read more...


28/11/2019

Champagne Hippy - Day 5 - Flat calm

The weather is being very unseasonal with no sign still of the trade winds. The sun is shining and we are motoring along in 2-5kts of wind. We are hunting for the trades which typically blow a steady 20-25kts day and night to take us all the way to the Caribbean.The grib weather files show there is the beginning of some wind to the south west which is why I am happy being more towards the southern side of the fleet. Looking at the position reports it looks as though most people in the cruising division are motoring at around 7-8 knots. The race is on to find the wind as none of us can motor all the way there.Hopefully by tomorrow night (Friday) we should start to feel the beginning of the trades which should then slowly increase and establish themselves.Life on Champagne Hippy is good.. read more...


28/11/2019

Hatha Maris - blog 2 28112019

Hatha Maris day 2 - 27/11/19"Just move it, move it"...!Is our new anthem.So far we've travelled approximately 290 nm - only 2579 to go! (Are we there yet? - asks Tara)We've currently gybed and are now heading west Sailing into the spectacular sunsets and the warmth of the Caribbean.So far this downwind Sailing has been smooth and lovely, figuratively and literally "a breeze".With only one minor "casino" (Italian and Swiss for mess) with our furler drum. Hatha Maris called all hands on deck in the middle of the night to temporarily lower the jib to enable us to re-secure the tack shackle (jib attachment), untangle the line (for taking in and out the jib), check for chafing (the line in and outside of the system) and re-run the entire furling system. (We believe have little devil mice with. read more...


28/11/2019

Hatha Maris - blog 1 27112019

Hatha Maris 1 27112019Yesterday we finally got our new sails from sail design in Viarregio out from the Spanish customs and onto the boat. Yehaa. One day behind the fleet we will catch up soon! After the rigging of the mainsail we had lunch on the pontoon and our last proper showers for a while. At sunset after some last group photos and hugging the crew from our sister boat blue moon - good bye, we set sails to cross the Atlantic.Tara the boat tiger cooked us a very delicious curry for dinner. The first night watch started in pitch black night and some of us had trouble with not feeling well. in the morning they got woken up and had scrambled eggs for breakfast after the 24 pack fell over into the sink.Before noon blue moon sent an all ship vhf message that they assist a small power. read more...


28/11/2019

The Kid - try

Nous passons un très beau moment de mer. . read more...


27/11/2019

Zaurak - Zaurak's bimbling blog

Zaurak's bimbling blogThis morning we caught a barracuda. After much rejoicing, we read in our 'Sea Fishing' tips and techniques book that "it is best not to eat barracuda. Some are OK but others are toxic, so it's best to avoid them as there are plenty of other options for food". This last line -- suggesting bounty a-plenty -- was somewhat of a twist of the knife as this was the first and only fish we had caught in four days. With a heavy sigh we threw back our one and only small toxic bit of bounty.Nonetheless, we are not despondent. The lines went out again, and now, join us live (as I write) as Claire pulls in our small tuna and Mahi-Mahi line, a 50 metre nylon beauty adorned with fish-enticing pink and clear muppets.Claire begins to wind in. The tension mounts. Claire: "The line is. read more...


27/11/2019

Escapado - Daily log

Daily logDay 4 and no one has been thrown over board yet. There was some pre departure threatening ftom the first mate towards the skipper but they still smile at each other. So does the rest of the crew. We are a mixed bunch of 8 people ftom 7 countries aged between 20 and 52. Today we have been steadily sailing on. Earlier today the wind picked up and put an evil racing smile on our skippers face. We loved it! The two Italians sang us through last nights nightshift. And the Italian finally managed to scare Petey the pigeon away. There was loads of Italian swearing involved and if we believe translations it went along the lines of his mom being a chicken. Highlight of the day was our Russian crew member vs. the fish. The fish won.Sandra. read more...