Kinship - Kinship Log - PreDeparture

The crew aboard Kinship are finishing up the last minute details, stowing for sea, and enjoying croissants as we await the first start of the ARC. We plan to watch from the shore and hunker down until the wind blows through before we make our departure on Tuesday. Feeling ready, these next few days should be relaxing with only few errands to run. Already the flags snap in the breeze and a gentle swell can be felt in the marina. It should be a fun start!. read more...

Kinship - Pre-departure

The crew aboard Kinship are getting to know each other, getting to know the boat, and getting to know Las Palmas! We have hit the streets and walked and jogged all over the place to prepare and provision the boat. We are ready to set sail and looking forward to the journey together.. read more...

Kinship - Day 10

Day 10--No moon, no stars, no discernible horizon--just black like the insides of a dog.In the middle of the night, 3 hours seem like forever and one does, in fact, feel like a dog.We usually sleep well on our off-watches, but a couple nights ago, when we had lumpy seas, it was hard to sleep on a roller coaster bounding through blackness.And with the waves punching Kinship in the stomach, it was almost sickening as she shuddered and then climbed the next wave after wave after wave.Wecan't but admire the strength and stamina of our little sailboat... hour after hour, day after day, she as laid her broad shoulder to the sea and plowed bravely ahead, like a running back taking the ball over the line.. read more...

Kinship - Day 8

It is day 8, and after 2200 miles under our keel since Tortola, we've only motored 11 hours since weighing anchor in Bermuda some 1300+ miles ago. After some brisk sailing the first few days, we have now reached the longitude of the Azores High, where we've been tiptoeing across with variable winds with our full complement of sails--double headsails (Staysail poled to windward) and full mainsail. Andy has boundless energy, and his creati e sail combinations have made Kinship happy to romp along. So far, our strategy of staying north has been to our advantage, althought with these cold nights, we have needed fleece, wolly watch caps and down comforters. At one point we were only 60 miles from the ice line on the chart. And although the charts shows reported icebergs in our path, we were. read more...

Kinship - Wandering Plankton

As many of you have heard, Outer Limits, one of our fellow ARC Europe yachts, struck a whale last night and the crew were safely rescued by a freighter before the boat sank..This has been a sobering thought for all of us and has caused us to revisit our safety procedures as well as our abandon ship protocols. It is day 4 now, and we are still heading northeast based on our interpretation of the weather forecasts.We picked up a nice current up here so our daily logs have been in the 180-mile range--which is respectable for a small cruising boat such as Kinship.Last night, with no moon, it was as pitch black as black can be, and it seemed like we were bounding along on a sea of black ink with the bow wake throwing gleaming white tendrils of lacy foam studded with bio-luminescent plankton. read more...