Daily Logs

Escapado - Daily Log 27/11/2019

Escapado Log Entry From Crew Member Georgie A day of sail trimming and sail changes, low winds, nature spotting, and good eating. Cloud prevailed with a gloomy sunrise butane luminous pink sunsetToday's highlight was a pod of 20 or so dolphins that came to play- cue a lively debate on dolphin VS porpoise (unresolved) Also joining us was Petey the pigeon who wished to be remembered by "presents" he left on the deck - hastily cleaned away by a less than impressed skipper Changing sails also kept us occupied as we skirted around pockets of dipping and changing wind. We switched from our asymmetric spinnaker to code zero and back to asym before a planned gybe as the evening closed out. Our crew are getting increasingly proficient with fewer tangled lines and puzzled faces looking back at the. read more...

Meltemi - Tag 3 Bordbuch der SY Meltemi - man glaubt es kaum...

Ja,ja, natürlich wollten wir uns längst gemeldet haben. Aber dazu braucht man Zeit. -Nee, nee, wir chillen hier nicht, sondern sind den ganzen Tag rundum beschäftigt. -Aber von vorn. Am Sonntag um 10.48 Uhr haben wir abgelegt. Ein großer Moment. Langsam schiebt sich unsere Meltemi aus der Box. Einige Freunde von Beate sind gekommen, fotografieren und winken. An und auf der Hafenmauer Massen von Menschen. Begleitet von heißen Rhythmen passieren wir die Hafeneinfahrt, und mischen uns unter die anderen teilnehmenden Yachten, die sich bereits vor der Startlinie tummeln. Wir setzen die Segel, vermessen die Position des Startschiffs (spanisches Militärschiff) und einer Tonne - dazwischen befindet sich die Startlinie für unsere Gruppe.Die Positionen übertragen wir in den Plotter. Suchen einen. read more...

Mathilda - A day in the life of Autopilot Lilo

A day in the life of Autopilot LiloI was working all night and since I had nothing else to do I just watched my owners having nightshift, which was quite amusing. Richard was eating loads of cookies (as always in nightshifts); Seraina had problems with staying awake and Walter was just having a lookout, looking at the stars and the moon and eating some bread. At about two o’clock in the morning I was thinking how they would react if I suddenly turned 180 degrees and went back the way we came, but then I thought that maybe something would break, because of the sails and the wind and they would probably exchange me because they think that I am broken and I would not like that, because I love my job. So I decided to just continue the course that they wanted me to go. After the crew had some. read more...

Umiko - Blog 2 day 4 Thursday the 27th November Dolphins and Flying Fish (Brian Blog)

Dear UMIKO Fans,I hope this blog finds you well. Some of you will know that this ship attracted many flying fish strikes last year. Including causing a broach, a couple of crotch and head shots... Well the first ones have been sighted so we are back in the Danger Zone!!We also had something happen that I have not seen before... We were going along nicely with the spinnaker foot just out of the water. A dolphin playing on the wake jumped out of the water and landed on the foot. Luckily dolphin and kite both survived said encounter. Initial issues with our mast locking system have been figured out and the system is working great now. The lock means that (in theory) we don't have and chafe issues as you get with a traditional halyard set up. Despite the new system we have still been going. read more...

Skyelark of London - Its a bit quiet

Day four saw light winds from dawn onwards. Several sail configurations were employedto capture what breeze came our way. From Goose winging the jib, to broad reachand spinnaker. Several gybes have been made in good order in both daylight andnight conditions. Which is testament to crew  learning quickly on all aspects of boathandling. We have been in the company of yacht Sandvita since the start line andcontinue to be so at the time of writing. Other Arc yachts have passed our waywithout causing any alarm. Night time temperatures remain doggedly chilly whilstday time figures are on the climb. Today saw the first salt water showers takenby  the crew, most reporting theexperience to be bracing!Sadly, the success of the first fishing expedition withPretty in Pink lure could. read more...

Xerric - On the way to the Caribbean

Fine weather, finally at sea again. Impressive to see this massive fleet streaming out of the harbour. Everything there, from massive parasailors, passat sails to just normal settings. Great. Now the tactics under us come to play: more south, more north, straight west? Perhaps the forecast of the low winds in the west is definitely wrong? On the other hand again: Rock'n Roll, not as hard as after Las Palmas, but quite uncomfortable. We decided for the Westward Ho with boomed GE and a better wave pattern. Went not too bad. Slowly friends disappear, after three days we found nobody on Sight or AIS anymore. In the meantime some fixing (we are on a sailboat), for example as we wanted to start the engine for some charging, there was an unknown noise: Alternator belt loose. Ok, done :-)Day two. read more...

Xerric - Peaceful Atlantic Ocean

How is the ocean like at the moment (23/24.11)? Remarkable blue. The light blue of the sky gives a smooth contrast to the deep blue of the sea, now quite nice and rolling comfortably. There is some peace in it which slowly takes also all the crew members. Everybody and everything is relaxed and in peaceful slow motion. There is nobody seen on the AIS nor on the Horizon. It is just the ocean and us. And finally the blue gennacker goes up pushing us to the Caribbean.(AR). read more...

Xerric - Marina Mindelo

Two nice days of laziness with lots of strolling around in this beautiful town. The people are very charming and helpful. Fine welcome party from the ARC with beautiful dancers and, almost not believable, the secretary of state of Cabo Verde to welcome us. The next days were full of activities: clearing the boat, relaxing in the floating bar, laundry, provisioning update and lots of talking with friends from other boats. And of course a trip round Sao Vicente organised by the ARC, which was very impressive. Well and the problems always occur at last minute. The day before the departure to the Caribbean a diver found the anode of our propeller apart (just half a year old), a new one could not be found. When doing the final engine check we detected that the impeller housing was leaking. A. read more...

Xerric - From Las Palmas Gran Canaria to Mindelo Cabo Verde

At halftime after days with strong waves that felt like they came from all directions rocking the boat quite nicely: The crew were nevertheless happy and proved their fine teamwork by the first catch of the trip: Mahi-Mahi at its best. A large wave threatened to wash the crew and fish off stern but the catch was already safe. So in the evening nice Sashimi followed by a strong and powerful fish soup cheered and strengthened the "Xerricos" for the night in a fabulous way. The next day gave us two more Mahi-Mahi which immediately were turned into fried Fish with potatoes and fresh fish-salad. This helped well for the remaining miles to Mindelo, which were better than the first half but remained bumpy. Finally we had a great arrival in Mindelo Marina.(AR). read more...

Fish Pie - 10am Monday 25th November

We had a lovely send off from La Palmas and enjoyed the festive spirit. Our strategy at the start was to hang back and then power up over the start line - this seemed to work for us and we were soon underway making a good 7 knots. Half an hour in we launched the FAWTH sail or FCB - potential trouble! We had a lovely run topping 11.5 knots, which really boosted our morale.There was over 30 knots of wind in the acceleration zone, needless to say the FCB was put to bed!!We had a quiet night with the wind dropping off at about 4am. All going well just breakfasted on scrambled egg on toast. crew not very receptive to my suggestion of listening to a book together, so it looks like I'm on my own on that one!Judith. read more...

Fish Pie - Weds 27th

Adrian has now showered!!!!! I'm not sure we can recommend lathering up in a short rain shower - you run out of water for rinsing off! Photos available on request.No fish have been caught yet - probably just as well, as dragging in the weighted lines at 7 knots took two people! Still untangling the lines was some great occupational therapy for MartinHad a technical last night - Horace the Hydrovane was working loose on his mountings - fortunately skipper noticed just before nightfall. Dinner was delayed whilst emergency repairs took place.Horace is really working his passage and he doesn't talk back, although he is not too keen on the cruising chute (FCB)- he's not the only one!Just one crew member left to have a wash, but he only washes on Fridays - so we've got to hold our noses for. read more...

Hawkeye - Day 4 Hunting for wind

We are hunting down the wind that we are told by ARC Rally Control should be here - but isn't.Richard needs to accept that no matter how many forecasts he downloads, and which sophisticated weather routing programme he uses, such activities will not actually make the wind actually blow any harder.Wind is down to just 10 knots, so we are ghosting along at 3 to 4 knots, in a calm sea.It's hot! Well, 24 deg C - so perhaps today the sun might even kick our solar panels into gear.It seems to get warmer by around 1 degree a day, so beach wear is becoming the order of the day.All is good on Hawkeye!. read more...

Hawkeye - Off across the Atlantic

Two Cornish men, their wives and one daughter are casting off from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria as the ARC 2019 Atlantic Rally starts.Packed to the gunnels with Pasties, Saffron Buns and Tribute Ale we have 2800 miles to follow in the track of many fine mariners.Sharing this experiencewith our fellow 200+ other boats of all shapes and sizes we wish them all fair winds, calm seas and many amazing memories.Next stop some cold beers, the odd rum punch and a chance to regain some 'land legs' in Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia in the Caribbean.image001 image002. read more...

Champagne Hippy - Incredible that we even made it to the start

4 days in to the ARC 2019 and it still seems incredible that Champagne Hippy even made it this far.A bit of history for those who don't know about the boat - she was launched in 2014 as Polina Star III. There were issues with the keel right from the start and one year later the bottom of the boat parted company form the hull. The keel matrix had completely failed and the 23 ton keel, complete with the keel stub broke off when the boat was sailing in the Mediterranean. Very quickly the boat capsized and sank in 40m of water where she lay for 3 months.She was salvaged and eventually bought by 4 brothers from Essex who happened to own a boatyard (Essex Marina and Boats.co.uk).One of the brothers, Nick took on the project after buying the hull from the insurers and exactly a year later, with. read more...

Little Island - 48-72 hours

Progress has been fairly slow with a frustratingly light wind. We’ve been trying the cruising chute and goose winged head sail configurations but nothing gets the boat going enough to sail us on a decent angle without continuous flogging and filling of sails! The waves aren’t big but enough to disturb the air flow and test our patience. We’ve had two hits on the line. One took the lure and hook with it and the other was a canvas bag. Hoping for third time lucky as we’ve heard reports of another boat catching a big Mahi Mahi. We’ve happened to find ourselves sharing the same patch of water as our friends Chris and Frankie on Gitane, a Moody 44. The race is on!I have settled into sleep pretty well with the use of an eye mask, noise cancelling headphones and some melatonin. Cat is. read more...

Saoirse - The Saoirse Diaries -14- A royal ass kicking

Day 6 royally kicked our ass.It started off beautifully.I was on morning shift.Wolf came up to the cockpit shortly before dawn with Óisin who was full of fun, love and chat, absolutely dying for Cúisle (who sleeps in the cockpit when we are passaging) to wake up.When she did, it was still dark and the two of them sat cuddled with me watching the sun come up.A rare moment, they are normally both so active, they come for cuddles but jump back down again just as quick.Up down, up down, non stop little energiser bunnies.It was so nice to just sit there peacefully with them looking forward to what the day may bring.You will recall our strategy had been to head South to try to avoid the hole that was due to arrive further North within a few days.After the first night of sailing we were lying. read more...

Verbena - Update Day 1 to 3 - Atlantic Ocean, Table for 6 Please

Boat, crew and family are all having a good time.  Our game plan has been, and continues to be, to head south, trying to avoid the light wind to the northwest and then turn right.  It will feel real good when we turn the corner and start heading west, pointing at our destination!The boat is sailing well.  With the wind behind us, we can get the boat going 8 kts plus in about 10 kts of breeze.  We’ve had a couple of spinnaker line issues but nothing we can’t overcome. We’ve been seeing boats as we go which is real nice.  We are currently alongside a X-612 and at yesterday’s noon position check the Volvo Ocean Race boat participating was about 90 nm further along our path.  All good company.We caught one tiny fish and threw it back.  The line just. read more...

Celtic Star - Blog 3 Wednesday 27 Nov

Somedays there just ain't no fish. Those with very long memories may recall a pop-trio called the Andrews Sisters. They had a minor hit with the song "Somedays there just ain't no fish".We understand the lyric, we have fished all-day for two days and caught ... nothing; not even a false alarm or lost lure to report.Surely it can't be our fault ... we have a new and better lure 'the finest the woolworths could sell (to change the metaphor to Albert and the Lion). I vaguely recall that the song continues (if anyone reading has access to google, could they reply with the actual words please)."it ain't my bait, it ain't my rod, somedays there just ain't no fish". I hope that others are having better luck than we are but, if you are, then keep it to yourselves, there is nothing worse than. read more...

Oyster Moon - News from Oyster Moon

We made excellent progress overnight and enjoyed plotting our daily position on our paper map.  Charlie and Jess set to work with home school practising times tables using the number bean bags and the daily quizzes were completed ready for distribution amongst other ARC family boats. As well as receiving our daily weather report from the ARC, we also received a detailed weather report from Al, a dear friend who provided us with on board sailing instructor training back in Southampton and Skippered us from Falmouth to La Rochelle.  His prognosis was that we needed to reach 14 degrees 30 minutes (60 miles further South) in order to catch the best of the winds for the rest of the trip.  Luckily the wind was on our side for the rest of the day. Just before sunset, we. read more...

Cross Ocean - 27/11 - Double handed

“Log 2 - Double handed for us means new routines and schedule! While one of us is eating pancakes for breakfast the other one is eating them for lunch! “Thanks for posting!Best regards Malin and Kaj ( Boat Cross Ocean, NR 207)image1. read more...

Challenger 1 - TS crew blog Challenger 1 26/11/19

The trip so far, the mates perspective….Prepping the boat in Gran Canaria always seems a blur, normally a week of inventories, fixing things and walking around Las Palmas ordering food, looking for certain spares in different parts of the city then getting back to the boat and realising what we’ve forgotten so back to the chandlers or the Hiperdino we go… this year we were lucky to have longer and we seemed to be much more organised, (only doing an average of 8k a day) which meant we found ourselves wandering what we’d forgotten! I of course have to mention the hard work of our watch leaders, who both brought the boat down from the UK, meaning they know the boat well and despite being volunteers, are always keen to help when they could be lying on a beach, thanks guys. After meeting the. read more...

Jua Kali - The Jua Kali Report - Day 3

Day three has been a pleasant and mostly easy 24 hours. We have been on the same course with the A5 up the whole time, with an almost consistent breeze to make things even easier! The crew's first taste of what the trade winds should be like, although we have been sailing at a fairly high angle and the sea has been almost flat.We haven't seen all that many other boats over the past day but we did cross paths with our friends on Oarsome Dream so it was nice to have a talk on the radio with them. The night was mostly clear and starry apart from a small "baby squall" that brought increased winds and a touch of rain as well as obscuring the stars making keeping a course a lot harder. Nothing the Jua Kali crew couldn't handle though and it soon passed with the rest of the night being. read more...

Challenger 1 - Crew blog Challenger 1 27/11/19

26/11/19The morning began pretty calm and simple with the blue watch waking up for the 7 am to 1 pm watch, fortunately we were up early enough to spot the lovely dolphins playing around in the waves made by the bow of the boat, the 7 am watch is quite peaceful and the temperature is just right. Unfortunately there is always work to be done on the boat.moments after enjoying thesunrise we were summoned to the bow by the first mate Sam to change around some sails due to the lighter wind conditions. The remaining hours of our watch was filled with lots of funny stories and some music. At the end of our watch we prepared lunch for the crew and hit the beds. the watch schedules are starting to become more of a routine and life onboard is starting to feel like home. Currently it is watch. read more...

Mareas - Wipe the stardust from your eyes

Crewmember Julie reports about the start of the rally.The morning of departure there was so much electricity in the air it was exhilarating. The moment of casting the lines came easily and quickly. Berry (the captain) of my new floating home gave us all a quick debrief of how leaving the dock would go down and what we each would be responsible for. We then all took our positions and you could here a collective “ready” from each corner. On queue we each cast off our lines and Berry drove slowly forward and just like that land slipped away. As we made our way through the marina and to the exit we could begin to hear horns and dance music and a loud speaker. There were flags and people lined up all along the exit and on top of a building waving and cheering. The guy on the mic was. read more...

Oyster Moon - News from Oyster Moon

Day 3: Saturday 23rd November – Pete’ll fix it!We woke this morning feeling very tired and a little downhearted, which has been typical of Day 3 of our longer voyages so far.  The children still suffer from feeling sick and it takes the rest of us time to adjust to our watch shift patterns and going about daily activities with the boat rocking around all over the place.To add to this, we were very low on battery power as late yesterday evening we discovered that Generator was broken. Thankfully, Pete had a good idea what the problem was. After watching a beautiful sunrise and making a breakfast of frankfurters and beans (which Jess managed to actually keep down!), Charlie went on a mission to find the required replacement part.  By lunchtime, the generator was up and working. read more...

Next Step - Tuesday 26th November 2019

During Monday night we continued to see other yachts and we passed close behind Scilla and Justine. Also, in the early morning the cruise liner Costa Fascinosa passed ahead of us approximately 6 miles away. The wind had gone a bit light by the morning so progress became a little slow. During the routine morning rig check I found a screw lying on the deck..a little disconcerting, Jeremy later found that it had come from the Vang to boom fitting, so thankfully I did not have to go up the mast.At lunchtime we had a real treat of sausage wraps made by Jeremy which made a great change from ham or cheese yum yum.. Unfortunately, we have been unable to fix our Watt & Sea hydro generator so it was necessary to run the engine, NB:out of gear, for an hour in the evening. David made a fantastic. read more...

Xplorer - Xplorer at sea

Almost halfway through the Atlantic in great sailing conditions.We have had great days out here, with favorable trade winds taking us at average 7knts through the sea. The sea is calm and the wind varies between 13-19 knots. No squalls so fare. Can still see few fellow ARC yachts around in the horizon.We even had time to fly our drone and caught some nice views. S/Y Xplorer image1. read more...

Zan - A dining experience

The dining on board reached another level tonight; pre dinner drinks in the cockpit were accompanied by a whale breaching on our port sidefollowed by Dan’s delicious stuffed pork, wrapped in Serrano ham, with vegetables including roast potatoes and gravy. All this while doing 8 to 9 knots under spinnaker. Thanksgiving dinner in a couple of days... we hope the whale comes back to join us.So all good on boardMartin, Paul, Dan and Peter. read more...

Amari - Day 6 How to catch a fish

Day 6: How To Catch A Fish At Sea: A Facetiously Fallacious TreatiseWith a mere thirteen hundred and forty two miles to go, I have discovered the scientific recipe for catching fish at sea. In fact, having caught two fish in three days, which now officially makes me an expert, although I have been inexplicably banished from fishing until we have more room in the freezer.Inconceivable!But in the process, I’ve noticed a pattern. When I caught the Dolphin Fish today, the conditions were exactly the same as those when I caught the Mahi two days ago. So now that I have a completely unrepresentative sample size of spurious correlations, I’m well armed with my broad sweeping generalizations. First, in both cases I put the lures out the day before Fish-Catching Day and had no luck with either. read more...

Charm - Richards Bay

Richards Bay is fantastic!  The Zululand Yacht Club is everything you could want in a marina.  It’s in a rural area, with grassy grounds, a kids’ playground, a small swimming pool, a bar and restaurant, and easy access to good shopping and game reserves.  The people are incredibly kind, helpful and welcoming, and we are sad we are leaving tomorrow. When we first arrived almost two weeks ago, they met us at the dock with champagne and gift bags for the kids.  This is the first time any marina has acknowledged the kids on board and it was a very kind gesture. I thought we would have to spend the night on the boat since we had arrived in early evening when most countries would not clear us through customs and immigration so I had already thawed meat for. read more...

Umiko - Blog 1 from Alan. The start of our journey and Dolphins!

Good evening UMIKO Fans,Well sorry it has taken a few days for this to get to you. We have been busy! We had a few teething problems with a few systems. Everything from our new halyard lock system (marks and training required) to the generator not starting, (a faulty relay)! If you are reading this it also means I have got the Sat comms to say hello again!> The crew have settled well into boat life and we are enjoying the great conditions that we have experienced so far. The crew did not know the yacht very well and have never sailed on such a large yacht before. The maneuvers have come on leaps and bounds in the first few days and we are really starting to gel as a team. Anyway Alan has done our first blog and it is below!Olly OUTUMIKO ARC Blog Tuesday 26thAfter a last evening out in. read more...

Layla - Fishing for Complements :-)

Last night we had settled in for dinner and half way through our meal the Raymarine had another blip which resulted in much activity and us finishing our dinner’s cold! For the rest of the night we set our sails conservatively and overall this led to our slowest days at sea since leaving Las Palmas. The upside is that we had plenty of time to relax and catch up on books and sleep. The afternoon was punctuated with the excitement of the first catch of the trip. “H” has the bragging rights finally landing one after having caught and lost on previous days. This achievement is all the more sweet for him since let’s say his rod and reel are on the “budget end” of those on board!! We have just set the sails for the night after gybing south and as I am writing “the fish” is being cooked :-). read more...

Skyelark of London - Somewhere off Africa

Last48 hours we set sail from Las Palmas, Spain at 1230 on Sunday the 24th.Dan did an excellent job of leading us across the starting line.The crew is in great spirits and full of respect for the voyage.We are composed of four Brits, three Americans, and a Dane.The first day of sailing was very exciting as the fleet set off and quickly split up on multiple routeson our way to St Lucia.The winds were strong and stirred up the sea state. We began the watch schedule,which is three on six off.As we set into day two, the seas began to settle but the skies were overcast.We made good time sailing about seven knots on south by south west heading,working our way down the west coast of Africa in the direction of Cape Verde. It was a bit chilly on the 0200-0500. We worked our way through an area. read more...

Sweet Dream - Tuesday November 26, 2019

Lovely no stress day on land. Lars and Nancy packed up and headed for Tempe Elephant Park. Nancy’s daughter arrived mid day and had a three hour taxi ride up there, but finally arrived. She confirmed that they had checked into the “hotel” and had gone on a game drive. Glad to know they all arrived o.k. I had made friends with Carla, who runs the kitchen at the yacht club, and she encouraged me to have a session with her amazing friend Cleo, who did a fantastic job of transforming my boring greying brown mop into a sassy, lavender tinged, easily managed Bob! Very good fun! Afterwards I had our taxi guy take me to the shopping mall to peruse the food stores for provisioning ideas. I came back to the yacht club, ran into Carla, showed her my new “do” and then retired to the boat. No agenda,. read more...