can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Arcarius of Plymouth - Arcarius. Rest of sail to Bermuda




Rest of sail to Bermuda

The coast of Bermuda should appear over the horizon soon, perhaps today or definitely tomorrow morning, only 76 miles, at 5 knots we should arrive in the middle of the night tonight which means we will have to anchor in the bay until morning.The moon sets at around 2 30am so we need to approach the coral reefs that surround the Island before 2 30 am tomorrow morning.

The next few paragraphs may not be written in order of events as one day blurs into the next, so this is as I remember it, no doubt the boys will correct me if I am wrong

On board at the moment moral is good, the sea is deep and everywhere but the wind is proving illusive and a slippery little devil to catch.

It has however, suffered the odd day and night of entrapment and one evening ensured we had little sleep as it tried to bully the crew into releasing it. In particular, 2 nights ago the skipper and first mate had no sleep trying to balance wind and sail. A particularly lively squall hit us, the Scarepirate, although a little scared thoroughly enjoyed helming the boat, close hauled as possible, sails reefed, guiding the boat into the holes that had suddenly appeared in the Atlantic. The Boys assured her these were only troughs and nothing compared to what was to be thrown at us in the North Atlantic where the icebergs float!!!! Too late she'd already decided they were definitely holes and big ones at that. Got to say to RIB enthusiasts 6 knots in an Atlantic mini squall, so so very exciting, may have to jump ship type and become a yachty darlings!!!! After scarepirates watch, squall got more angry, the Skipper and first mate did a fine job all night tweaking sails, reefing, unreefing, taking in Genny, pulling out Genny. Helming, Then using the auto-pilot. Listening to calls on the radio from other boats in the area who were worried about collisions, didn't involve Arcarius I'm pleased to say. In the morning they both looked exhausted but they had sailed like old sea dogs and we were safe.

As with all sea-faring tales the next day the sea relaxed, the holes from the night before levelled and the Atlantic's black coat, became azure blue again and it's waters cleared, crystal blue so the light refracting through it became visible to the naked eye in rays of white light that radiated from its depths to the milky calm of the surface. Today Skipper became the crews hero, he was going to allow a mid-Atlantic swim. No other boats visible for miles just Arcarius and nautical mile after nautical mile of blue gently undulating rollers. Skip lead the way and to our delight he produced "salt-water" shower gel of all things and a hot fresh water shower to wash off the salt and delight our skin. Surely this has to be utopia? All crew members now smelt literally aqua fresh after their Radox bath.



image.

Previous | Next