Yara - Day 5 and still no whales

It was a great event, the start on sunday five days ago. Exhilarating to be part of 220 boats passing the start line in Las Palmas. The weather was beautiful and the sailing great. On the very first day we managed to bend the spinnaker pole, great if you are going to do three weeks of downwind sailing. We got it repaired by amputating the poor thing and transplanting the end bit to the fresh cut. Slightly shorter it still functions. On the second night the masthead tricolor light wouldn't work, so we started to get a little bit worried about what else was going to fail. However, the next night the tricolor miraculously reappeared. Further on the up side was the email via SSB that functioned excellently. Also good was the SSB radionet, just that you don't feel lonely, feel part of it all.. read more...

Yara - day 9 glorious sailing

After days of constant sail changes today we had a fantastic sailing day. With just the large yellow and orange gennaker we plowed through an ever quiter sea. At the end of the day the sea was almost calm, while we were still doing 5 knots. It also became clear that we are in the tropics now. It gets hot and humid inside. In our radio contacts everybody is talking about the weather. WIll we have more severe calms the coming days? Next to the fish catch and the problems with sailmail the weather is definitely a hot topic. We do get our share of mechanical failures. This time the NMEA-Seatalk bridge quit working. We use that to be able to mirror the instruments at the chart table. Not a very serious problem, but annoying as this is a simple piece of electronics that should last a lifetime.. read more...

Yara - day 15 halfway and beyond

Life on board is not always easy, but this time we had something to celebrate: we passed the halfway point. A little ceremony consisting of changing our ARC number from port to starboard side accompanied the celebrations. Otherwise its just bussiness as usual. More bread to make, more diners to cook, less fresh vegetables to use. All bananas were ripe on the same day, we have a slight banana intoxication now. The radionet keeps us busy and is also what keeps us going. Hearing from others and knowing where they are helps to improve the mood, which is brilliant most days, but gets sometimes below average due to sleep deprivation and general tiredness. Nothing new there. After a couple of days whith lots of squalls and a night sky illuminated by electrical discharges in all the clouds. read more...

Yara - Day 19 lots of wind

After so many days of light winds the theme has changed. Now we are getting lots of wind. 25 to 35 knots outside squalls and up to 45 knots in the squalls. It has been busy night, trying to dodge the squals, only partly succeeding. It was exhilarating sailing, surfing down waves at up to 10 knots. Alas, the fun factor was high, but so was the disaster potential. We reefed down to a double reefed genua, sometimes triple reeefed in the squalls. Still we were doing 6 to 7 knots. The seas were big and confused, they still are now the wind has diminished. And the count down has started. If we can keep up 6 knots mean, we need about 7 days to get to St Lucia. Well, lets try.... read more...