Clearlake II - Day 19 - Dinner for Kotari

Current position "14:04.5N 60:56.9W” i.e. the end – we are now berthed in Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia – some 2844 nm travelled since Las Palmas, and 4868 nm since Clearlake II left Portsmouth Harbour in July. Land was sighted at 0615 hrs this morning. It was a beautiful morning – no wind to speak of so we had to motor in until the last stretch which we sailed across for the finishing line. It’s a great feeling to have made it – after all the planning, preparation, breakages, repairs, ups and downs. We’ve had a great time as a crew – I think a great set of complements from action-man [James], fisher-man [Byron], repair-man [Chris] and skipper [Graham].  Last night we completed the transfer of a pressure-cooker full of hot beef stew and. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 18 - Replenishing Kotari

Current position "14:11.4N 58:56.5W”. Well we finally cracked – after looking at the latest forecast we realised we could be doing nothing for several more days and concluded there were better things to be enjoyed in St Lucia than sitting stationary in the Atlantic! So the engine went on last night – it was a good feeling to be moving again. We thought we’d have enough fuel to get us about 2/3 the way there and we’d hope to catch some more wind closer in. But by using low revs on the engine it looked like we’d be able to make it all the way.  That was plan A. Plan B unfolded about an hour ago when we heard another boat calling on the radio; they were calling someone who they could see ahead, but that boat wasn’t listening, so we let them. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 18 - Clearlake II Post Becalmed

Current position "14:17.6N 56:16.0W”. Well we had a beautiful if non-productive night. By late evening there was no wind, meaning 0.0 knots and 0.0 knots boat speed. The water looked like glass. So much so that Byron and James took a swim remained no wind whatsoever until about 2am when we picked up a few knots of wind and about 2.5 knots boat speed. We looked at the ARC weather bulletin this am which looked reasonably optimistic. Looking at a downloaded forecast with more accuracy shows we’re in a dead zone – this is the one we were tracking S to try to get around a few days ago, but obviously we didn’t quite make it! the ARC forecast shows average conditions for the square we’re in, but it has a range of winds within it, from zippo (us) to reasonable. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 17 - Nearly Becalmed

Current position "14:39.6N 55:30.6W”. Winds gradually died overnight to around 5-6 knots. They’ve also veered round from the E towards W. So no we are heading close to wind in a NW direction; we’re making a good course for Guadaloupe! Expectation is for continued veering through towards the N and back to NE-E. So at some point we’ll tack towards the S. We’re making good boat speed in the circumstances – around 4 knots – but it’s not quite in the right direction! So our fears of getting stuck around today are realised, albeit not the toughest experience in the world, just frustrating to feel so close but so far. If we carry on at today’s rate our Thursday eta will be more like Saturday, but I suspect we’ll improve on that as the. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 16 - Swim Time

Current position "14:54.8N 53:54.2W”. No catches today – just a false alarm as weed got stuck around a lure. We’ve also had weed around the prop which was giving a vibration through the hull - we cleared by turning the engine on for about 60 seconds running forwards and in reverse. Otherwise we’re all getting tired of night watches – the wind is pretty benign at night so there’s little need to helm and still no boats in sight, so it’s an enormous struggle to keep one’s eyes open, seemingly for no reason. We sighted one other sail 30 mins ago – the first for two days, despite being only 420 nm away from St Lucia. We’re still heading slightly south of the direct course to St Lucia as the forecast is for a dead patch of wind. read more...