Sibilation - Day 19

Land ahoy!   At 10.30am this morning (Friday 9th December) the skipper awoke his crew with the news they’d been waiting to hear. Land ahoy, he announced at the top of his voice! Pigeon Island came into view (at least we think it’s St Lucia, it’s definitely the Caribbean!) After some debate about it just being a big cloud, we settled on the fact it was land and the necessary photograph pointing at it was taken.   Currently the GPS reads 43nm to go, and at a speed of about 5 knots (motoring at present) we aim to be there by the early evening UTC (local time is –4 hours).   Over the last 24 hours we’ve motored on and off, as the wind as picked up and then died off again. We needed about 7-8 knots apparent breeze on a close reach for sailing,. read more...

Sibilation - Day 18

I could cut and paste the opening paragraph from yesterday’s blog but as we’re running short of minutes on the sat phone I won’t bother, and just let you re read it to sum up our lack of wind situation!   On the plus side with the engine running and the batteries charging (the boat’s and ours) we’ve started to work our way through our DVD collection, given the boat a bit of a clean up and plugged in the mobile phones ready for calls home. Where the wind has decreased, the amount of sleeping has increased and any watch which involves any period of darkness (currently this is up until lunchtime as we’ve kept the clocks at UTC) is immediately followed by several hours of snoozing. We’re just making sure we’re on top form to be welcomed in. read more...

Sibilation - Day 17

Where Sibilation sails well, she motors slowly!   Another massively frustrating 24 hours motoring along at 4.5 knots trying to be as efficient as possible to ensure the diesel we have on board lasts throughout this period of no wind. We are now thankful for the huge jerry cans of diesel we bought in Las Palmas, but gutted that we’re having to use it. Before starting the trip if someone had offered us 19 days with a bit of motoring we’d have bitten their arm off, but after the excellent progress in the first 12 days, our expectations and goals shifted significantly. At one point it looked possible to make it in just less than 18 days, with no motoring at all. On a positive note, currently we’re still on track to make it at some point on Friday and achieve a number. read more...

Sibilation - Day 16

No wind!   We have succumbed to putting the donkey on! After the wind dropped to barely a zephyr last night we decided at 2am to motor. At about 7am the wind had picked up slightly, albeit virtually on the nose, so we unfurled the gib and managed to sail for about another 6 hours. At 12.50 we were making only 3 knots towards St Lucia and so we’re now motoring again. Our frustration has been shared by a fellow ARC-er who made a general announcement on the VHF ARC channel – ‘who ordered this damn wind? I don’t like it!’   This has given the opportunity for a mid atlantic swim, and I’m ashamed to say only the skipper took this opportunity! We did catch it on film, but the battery died half way through! No great whites were spotted during or. read more...

Sibilation - Day 15

We’re now into day 16, with only a few more days to go.  Looking at the forecast, it’s going to be hard to get through these next few days without using the engine, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.   Nothing much else to report from ‘Sibilation’ today.  It’s very hot....  water temperature alone is 30° C.  Don’t know what the air temperature is but it’s seriously hot.  Good job I packed those 6 pairs of ski socks... thermals... boots......   Jeff   Current position at 1540 UT:  N 14°42.5  W 51°48.8      . read more...