Daily Logs

Angerona - 10.12.2011 - Finnishing the Atlantic crossing by the captain

As the ARC crossing goes to end up in Saint Lucia, and we estimate to arrive around xxx o'clock today, Saturday 10, I am very thoughtful. This crossing has been dream for me for a long time, and I think this is the time to thank all the people that have made this possible to carry out.   First I want to thank my doughters: Mari-Amanda (20) and Anya-Henriette (29) who take care of our business when we are away.   I took my certificate for Deck Officer Class 5A at Arsile school in Oslo, and want to thank Lars S. Larsen for all he teached me about boats, navigation and living at sea.  I had never been sailing a yacht before we bought this sailyacht from Fjord Sail AS at Høvik.  The owner of the company, Tor Hove, gave us very good advise when we ordered the boat. read more...

Brizo - Fri 27th May 2011- 'Back in the Saddle again

'Back in the Saddle again'. (a bit of background - for those not interested skip to Saturday or for that matter the rally Dinner end of June)The last 20 years have been frantic but the last month some of the most frantic in our lives. Having sold the Maxi 1200 in 2006 to focus on a house build project in our home town of Dartmouth Devon. We had done little if any sailing during the intervening years, and soon realised that sitting pretty in our newly renovated house for several years we needed another challenge, so decided to 'sell down', much to the amazement of many, and go do some fairly serious cruising before we get too old !18 months later we are now sat on our newly delivered Discovery 55 BRIZO (Greek goddess of mariners/navigation) in Plymouth harbour having completed two house. read more...

Sookie - Day 20 (Eighteen)

Another nil wind day and our fuel for getting to St Lucia is marginal.  We have had diesel bug which is where the fuel jellifies and clogs the filters.  We changed filters again today and are saving old ones in case they need to be recycled.  We do have an emergency supply of fuel in Plastic Jerrydcans that will give us another ten hours of motoring should we need it.  Although we are a sailing yacht and we could sail the last stretch it would probably turn two days motor sailing into four days sailing with the current forecasts and the closer we get to our destination the more we want to get there.   Some of us have people already arriving from the UK to greet us.   However I forgot to mention we had a MOB (Man Over Board) or more accurately. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 20 – Friday 9/12/11 – Hello Sailor(s)

“Come here often?” were the first words exchanged with the crew of the 20 metre NZ yacht ‘Haereroa’ which drew alongside us during our evening pre-prandial tonight. We had seen them astern for a couple of hours, and they were doing a good knot and a half better than us (more of which later), so they closed the gap and hailed us as we sat snacking and imbibing.    They are also ARC participants, and we exchanged pleasantries (and promises of a beer in Rodney Bay), before they swept past us and disappeared into the distance. It left us contemplating the bizarre nature of the passage – hardly anyone within sight for 3 weeks, and then a boat onto which our pistachio shells landed! Night Watch Incidents We had a more complicated and absorbing night. read more...

Brizo - Wed 1st June 2011 (late evening) 'Land Fall'

Good night entrance into Bayona at around 11:30 BST, we won't mention the dropped fender picked up luckily by the Marina boat. 1st reverse ever of BRIZO onto a pontoon went OK, but had optimum conditions and no-one other than Nick looking, unpacked the Cappuccino machine not to mention a a beer or two - Heaven !Pat, Murray and Stuart. read more...

Brizo - Wed 1st June 2011 (day) - The point when you realise your son is a better sailor than you (not that I would tell him)

The decision had to made to go outside the separation zone at Cape Finisterre or inside and take the hit on the notorious wind and rough seas but save sea miles. To this point we had been really pleased with the handling of the boat - with a 41% ballast ratio and the keel on this yacht weighing in itself more than our entire previous yacht that had slammed its way across Biscay some 5 years before we felt confident to 'go for the inner route' and determined to just get in to Bayona despite a Navtex saying NE gusts to force 8 leading to the Cape.Tuesday night and then Wednesday turned into very windy conditions but the NE meant we were broad reaching across the waves which built and built and although nothing like the size we had seen on our previous trip across Biscay these were nasty. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 17 and 1/2

We made it! Crossed the finish the at 5:49m local time here in Saint Lucia :)It was quite a special moment, we were in regular radio contact with the finish line from about 5 miles out but despite our best efforts to arrive in light it was still pitch black (hard to estimate time of sunrise when it changes each day!). A photographer was sent out in a RIB to capture the moment and we have some great photos. Upon berthing in Rodney Bay there was a welcome party of ARC staff, a local from the Saint Lucia Tourist board bearing gifts of beer, rum punch and fruit baskets. Other boats were cheering and we felt pretty chuffed all round. We did see later in the day that if you manage to arrive in daylight you also get a steel drum player on the dock drumming you local tunes. What a great. read more...

Aztec Dream - 09/12/11 - We made it!

OK, so we had to motor the last 24 hours....but we made it.....arrived under sail over the finish line in Rodney Bay at 12.19 local time. We had a fabulous reception on the final approach as Russell and Tammy had brought 'Impulse' up from Grenada and were running alongside with a huge banner 'Welcome AZTEC'. Fantastic. The WCC crew were also there to meet us on the dock, with the St.Lucia tourist board, a basket of fruit, iced rum punch, a few beers and a bottle of rum. We are squeezed into a berth between two bigger boats and we quickly established that I know the owners of 'Brizo' from worling together at British Airways 25 years ago.....it's a small world! Casamara are also on the same dock.....all looking very hungover. Clearing customs and immigration was an. read more...

Brizo - Tues 31st May 2011 - Everybody was Kung Fu fighting

This was a fabulous day sailing mild to strong winds clear skies and sun, we managed to fly the Furling Asymmetric for half the day and we all watched 'Kung Fu Panda' as TV reception had finally failed and Murray resorted to using the Media PC's film library. We were slowly getting on top of the power generation and battery management systems. We practised furling, setting and unfurling the spinnaker to a point where there was few raised voices and the swearing was reduced to a minimum.Stuart and Pat. read more...

Brizo - Mon 30th May 2011- I see no ships

By now everyone was in a routine, we crossed the continental shelf having only really made contact with one other fleet vessel Jensen who had some sea-sickness on board. So as the wave frequency changed life on board became very comfortable (relatively), appetites were back to normal and being below held little fear of feeling unwell. Of course Lee clothes were a requirement throughout and even simple tasks were made more difficult at 30degrees. Dolphins came and went at various times.Pat and Stuart. read more...

Raparee - Possibly RAPAREE's last full day outward a l'Atlantique

Possibly RAPAREE's last full day outward a l'Atlantique Made a mitsake there on last blog. Of course day 19, yesterday, wasn't 12th Dec. To be sure it was only the 8th Dec.Anyway it was a most remarkably windless day. Surrounded by a great curving panorama of sky with huge distant cumulus clouds hull down on the horizon. A big slow easy swell gives the illusion that our horizon is tilted down to the south west and that we are gently sliding across a huge sea-meadow down into some distant valley. Its hot and sticky so we stop to allow us to jump into the clear blue sea and swim around the boat with 6000 metres below our toes. The after waterline and counter are covered with barnacles so skipper sets to with the brush. Under way again, lunch of marinaded tuna chunks in couscous with. read more...

Diamonds Are Forever - Blog - Day 19 - 9/12 - It's not the size that matters...

Diamonds Blog - Day 19 - 9/12?12 - It's not the size that matters... Hi all! So as you can probably see from our yellow brick tracker, our progress over the past 24hr has not been huge.But as any girl will testify, its not the size that matters, it's the way you do it that counts- and out here we are doing it in style! Yesterday afternoon (almost as soon as I had sent yesterdays blog describing our steady progress) the wind started to die and by the evening we were floating on a very different atlantic ocean.It was a glassy millpond which reflected the most spectacular sunset of the trip, lighting up every cloud in the sky in spectacular oranges and purples with the full moon out too.The helm was abandoned over dinner as the wind speed fell officially to 0. read more...

Brizo - Sun 29th May 2011 - Who saw the TV remote control last?

On watch it was cold, foggy and a lot of shipping around but with AIS it's a doddle compared to the old days which - excuse the pun could be a bit 'hit and miss', (kids today never had it so easy). Off watch crew, namely Murray was surprised just how far he could get TV reception off the coast of the UK so this quickly formed part of his R&R routine.Life on board at this point was lets say business like with everyone finding their sea legs. The staysail is self tacking so going to windward was a single handed affair. Although I like to think we had three crew actually the star was the fourth member of the crew namely the Autohelm, which apart from switching off a couple of times in the really heavy weather performed throughout the entire trip. (Ellen does not helm her own boats. read more...

Brizo - Sat 28th May 2011 (afternoon)- 'Head West - and if its hard going divert to the Chinese in Falmouth

This was Plan A and B - Plan B being something a previous rally crew had done one year according to Nick and Andrew - Murray, the son not married and accompanying Pat and I on the Biscay leg instead of being on Honeymoon in Bali like Lloyd our eldest, thought we should be a bit more 'chilled out' like that crew - Yeah like that's going to happen - mind you 5 hours after the start of the Rally I think we all would have preferred to be eating Peking Duck in Falmouth rather than heading into wind towards Ushant.As the rally started at 17:00 BST everyone else seemed to fly off, BRIZO seemed heavy in the water. We did think about jettisoning some surplice weight such as the Winch handles which are really only for decoration, but finding the several tons in weight needed to make a significant. read more...

Diamonds Are Forever - Special Blog (Day 19) 9/12/12

Special Blog (Day 19) A special Blog as we have just received the sad news of crew member Andrew Nash onboard the BOSS boat Ocean Wanderer.  We spent an evening sailing in company with Ocean Wanderer on day 14 and chatted over the VHF.As they didn't have e-mails we passed on a weather update and put them in as a special mention in our blog.  Are thoughts are with Andrew's family and Paul and his crew for their journey to St Lucia. We have 60l of fuel in our jerry cans on deck which you are more than welcome to. 9/12/11 18:00 UTposition: 14 01.7N'54 10.3'W.making 270T @ 1 knot. Vicky and crew xx. read more...

Psyche - Povoa de Varzim

The journey continues, and everything seems to be holding together (hopefully). We made Baiona on Saturday afternoon, after a beautiful and calm afternoon in the shelter of Finisterre, the winds eased and the sea quietened down. The fleet was already in, having been caught for 2-3 days in the gales in Fitzroy, of which we had heard the daily forecasts. and caught the aftermath. I mentioned that I had been hallucinating (visions and voices) on watch in the later stages of the trip (Kieran and I alternating 4 hr watches and the 00:00-0400 watch in particular), to find that everybody else had been too. It seems to be what the old people do nowadays.  Apart from the dolphins (particularly good at night where you could see ttheir trails in the water - at first I thought it. read more...

Angerona - Blogg thursday 7.12 to friday 8.12 by Ingo aus Norwegen.

Well folks, the Atlantic crossing is about to make an end. Tomorrow afternoon local time,the goal is within our reach !!   Strange, but fun. I have never been interrested in sailing, but the captain asked me for some months ago, and now I have learnd a lot (but not enough). The last few days have been kind of boring without wind and a lot of motorsailing. But there have been some happenings also. Gro got a 5 kg Tuna fish and was so proud  that se didn't know which leg to stand on and the smile got from ear to ear. We were also visited by some dolphins and took a lot of great pictures. Talking about  pictures, we have been taking thousands of pictures and I have filmd houers of houers with my action video camera. Hope to create a great video on Youtube.   Yesterday I. read more...

VIA CON ME - Slowely slowely

First we got rain, a lot of rain, and now, we didn't catch a glow of wind... grrr. Awful.  Only the show up of a couples of whales, give us a wonderful moment. But they wasn't close to us, to make some pictures. So sorry.   At the moment, everybody hanging around, reading a book, drink a beer and has hopes, to arrive soon in Saint Lucia.    Hands like to be 150 years old, after a bunch of rain our new spinakerboomsystem      37483759. read more...

Avalon - 08 June

Having all gathered in Plymouth the famous British weather, grey mizzel, cold and basically downright awful greater the fleet on Sunday morning. It was certainly the best reason for departing to the those promised sunny climes. The bay however was not going to let us escape that easily.After a delayed start we all started with great anticipation straight into a grey and misty south westerly. With 360 degrees on a compass it was about the only place we didn't need it to bePlanning to meet the new north westerly we had planned to head south and then west roughly towards Lands End to be the smart ones to meet it first. Like all great plans we deviated somewhat spend more time going south. We crossed towards France but by Monday night one crew member was in a severe state and I decided we. read more...

Dragonfly - 9TH JUNE

.hmmessage P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt }Arrived here yesterday after a 51 nautical mile trip from Bayona - this was completely different from the Biscay crossing - no wind to begin with so we all crept along very slowly - then the wind picked up but it was behind us (blowing north/north westerly) and as we were going south, though we were sailing quickly 7.5 knots on average, it did not seem so fast as sailing on a different tack.  There were big swells and it was quite difficult to stay on the corrrect bearing so helming took a lot of concentration.  The wind was really howling by the time we arrived here and we. read more...

Flying Fish - Landfall trotz Flaute

Ich beginne diesen wohl letzten blog von hoher See während eines Badestopps zu schreiben, 80 nm östlich von St. Lucia.  2-4 kn Wind aus NE erlauben ausgiebiges planschen ohne dem Boot hinterherzukraulen und ohne ausgebrachte Sicherungsleine. Wir wollen hier noch einige Stunden verweilen und unsere Fahrt erst am nachmittag fortsetzen, um nicht mitten in der Nacht in St. Lucia einzulaufen, sondern Samstag früh zum Sonnenaufgang.   Das erwartete Flautenloch (so sieht es auf der Wetterkarte aus: grosse weisse Fläche ohne Windpfeile auf einem Bildschirm mit bunten Windpfeilen rund um uns herum) war von uns nicht mehr zu umfahren, also geradeaus hinein. Noch ein paar Schläge nach Norden und Süden bei drehendem zugleich abnehmenden Wind, das war nur nochr. read more...

Matilda - Swimming with Whales

Well, the decision to motor was basically an inevitability in the end.We are now motoring over glassy smooth sea at 6.5 to 7 knots, which means we will get to St Lucia by lunchtime on Sunday if we continue motoring all the way.But the real news is what we have just been doing... About two hours after we (thankfully) decided to start motoring, Christian shouted "WHALES!!" and we rushed to see what he had seen.In the distance there were a group of rising fins, similar to dolphins but bigger.I am reliably informed they were Pilot Whales, and we saw a pod of about 20 to 30.(Heather thinks they may have been Minke Whales, so we will have to check the chart on this one...) We turned the boat in their direction, killed the engine and glided silently into their midst.They swam very calmly close. read more...

Yemanja

A few days since the last update...The day after our visit to Compostela Natty and I took the bikes out, an easy ride out but against the wind coming back. That dammed wind again.Tuesday we sailed downwind to Povoa de Varzim. We had a very windy (25knts) tie up but with plenty of help there were no incidents.Yesterday we went on a coach to Porto including a visit to the Taylors port cellars. On the way back Mary commented we all might be experiencing our first SAGA holiday, nobody laughed much.... Another coach tour this morning.....Regards, David. read more...

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...

Yemanja - 11 June

Now in Figuera da Foz having cruised down the coast from Povoa de Varzim yesterday. Nothing much to report other than the sun is shining, it's nice and warm and most of the rest of the group have gone off on the coach. Natty and I will probably have some sardines....David. read more...

Meltemi - Meltemi over and out

Liebe Freunde des Meltemi Blogs.Nach gut 17 Tagen auf See meldet sich die Meltemi heute erstmals wieder von Land aus St. Lucia. Ihr kennt ja den "Oooostseewetterbericht" aus Hamburg, der regelmaessig die wichtigsten Informationen und Stationsmeldungen "in langsamer Form zum Mitschreiben" wiederholt. Hier nun zusammengefasst die wesentlichen "Meldungen" der Meltemi in den Morgenstunden des gestrigen Tages (zum Mitschreiben):Am Ende ging alles ganz schnell und - Ihr werdet es vielleicht nicht glauben - fast ein wenig zu schnell. Also:03:20 Uhr (UTC minus 3): Landfall (Land in Sicht) - Martinique an Stb bei Kurs 252 ° (COG), Wind aus NNE, 2 - 3 kn, deshalb unter Maschine, aber immerhin mit Grosssegel!03:44 Uhr: St. Lucia an Bb in Sicht07:30Ankunfts-Champagner im Cockpit (freiwilliges. read more...

Psyche - blog: Figueira da Foz

It's now Monday morning, June 13th, and our departure for Nazare has been postponed til midday. Visibility is poor, there's no wind, and whilst we can motor the 35 miles to get there, the proliferation of lobster pots in limited visibility is difficult. This is the first dull day we've had since arriving in Baiona, and it's been steadily getting hotter as we head South. Povoa was a bit dull - lots of new appartments and hotels, a place where the population triples over summer, but we had a fabulous trip to see a 12th century church at Rates, which is on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, with a really enthusiastic and helpful tour guide, visited a carpet factory, S inevitably bought a carpet (but it is good and was only 10 euros!) Andy joined us at Povoa. read more...

Aniara II - Dec. 9

9 December 15.00 (local Aniara time) We use the wind and Penta roughly 50 % each. 165 NM to go (wrong distance info yesterday) and we need to find wind for at least 50 NM of these. Warmest day so far, 32 degrees in the shadow, and the interval between our swimming contests are becoming shorter and shorter. The Gold Sponsor of all events in St. Lucia is Heiniken, so guess if the crew are longing ashore.. read more...

Avalon - blog 2

It's Wednesday morning 15th JuneRunning from Peniche to OeriesGrey sky but warm. 12knts of wind. Gennaker up having temporarily made repairsBaiona to Foz saw us with an enterprising tight reach gennaker. Bow sprit failure resulted in the the gennaker streaming nearly horizontal from the top of the mast for all the fleet to see.Some 15 minutes later Tenby retrieved but ripped all along the clewDespite the set back we still had a good resultFoz to VarzimA drifty day not good for heavy cruisers but better than a good day in the office !A lovely day to Corimba. The library at the University is quite wonderful and we had a great few hours wondering around the townNazare and Peniche. One night stops The staff at Peniche were wonderfully helpful We have met and got to know all the rally. read more...

Avalon - Peniche to Oeiras

What a wonderful days sailing yesterdayGrey start and some breeze the fleet left through a 30 minute gate startThe breeze came and went teasing all morningSteering out to sea to keep the gennaker flying till eventually we gyped The sun got stronger and then a small group of dolphins. They were swimming nearly as lazily as we were sailingWind 5 knots. Genoa poled out to windward. Gennaker out to leeward we kept going at 2.4 knots14.30 reaching the first headland up came a great breeze reaching force 5The run then reach and eventual fetch for the last 14 miles was terrific. Hot sun flat water and loads of speedGuess we didn't really enjoy it that much !!!Jonathan Eddy. read more...

Babsea - Tag 20 - Viel Wind und Flaute

Auf dem Schiff Ocean Wanderer ist ein Crewmitglied an Herzinfarkt verstorben. Das hat die ganze ARC Rally schwer betroffen gemacht und auch wir möchten - obwohl wir sie alle nicht kennen - der Crew und der Familie auf diesem Weg unsere Anteilnahme ausdrücken. Ocean Wanderer steht noch ca. 350 SM vor St. Lucia. Am 06.12 hatte Nikolaus eine windige Überraschung für uns in seinem Sack. Hatten wir noch eine wirklich gute Segelnacht unter Parasailor mit Wind um die 24 - 28 Knoten und 7 - 9 Knoten Fahrt, so drehte im Morgengrauen der Wind und wir näherten uns einer großen schwarzen Gewitterfront. Das war kein Squall mehr. Wir bargen den Parasailor und setzten das volle Groß und die Rollgenua (Reffs brauchen Männer nicht, die Bienen statt Honig. read more...

Elisa - Finished in mutiple ways..

Lieve volgers van onze belevenissen,Weer is een goed voornemen ter ziele gegaan. Ik had me zo voorgenomen binnen 24 uur de afsluitende blog te posten, maar vele zeilersbabbels en evenzovele rumpunches hebben dit effectief verhinderd, sorry..Nu dan toch kort over onze laatste mijlen, aankomst en de vrolijke gekheid daarna. Woensdagochtend werden we aangenaam verrast door een klein beetje wind, zodat we alsnog de laatste 40 NM onder Parasailor richting St. Lucia konden varen. Het laatste Happy Hour had effectief de wonden geheeld tussen de mensen, maar tegelijk een lichte waas in onze koppies achtergelaten. Zoals mist in de zon pleegt op te lossen, verdween ook onze waas bij de aanblik van St. Lucia. Net als bij de start ontwikkelde zich een langzaam opbouwende prettige spanning in onze. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 17 - Nazare to Peniche

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } This was a non race day, so we decided to visit Nazare in the morning before heading off, and it was well worth it. There is a cable car to the top of the cliffs at one end of the town overlooking the beach. Fantastic views and some interesting locals selling nuts. The town had lots of alleys with cafes and bars, would have liked to have spent more time but we had to get going down the coast. Before we left we chatted to Mike the local expat marina guy about our journey and he had lots of useful advice and a contact on the north african coast who had all the low down on sailing around there. Berserker and Maui were last to leave and we headed out for a gentle sail down the coast to Peniche. We motor sailed most of the way ..... . read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 15 - Oil Change

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Went up to the local market for a few provisions, which were really good value, lots of cherries. Had a bite to eat then the time had come to do the next oil change and it all went pretty well. The oil was really black again, so alot of muck coming out of the engine. The new oil went in and ran for half an hour which looked really clean, so maybe ok. Pam was doing a bit of sail repair on our No1 and cooked the guys on Maui some dinner which we took over. Nice night having a few quiet bevies chatting with Jono and Chris. . read more...

Kantara - Yes, we are there yet. 14.04.8N 60.57.6W

We crossed the line yesterday morning at 10.37 to the sound of fog horns from our friends on Chosen One who had come out in their tender to greet us. There was absolutely no wind, so we hoisted the genoa 500m from the finish line and using the boat speed from our engine managed to 'sail' over the line with crew on the leeward rail.   The next hour was all a bit of a haze as we entered the marina and were welcomed at our berth to the sound of steel drums and received a much appreciated beer and punch. It was good to catch up with some of the other crews and hear their stories and it did strike us that the vast majority of the ARC fleet were significantly larger than dear Kantara.   Rodney Bay is absolutely beautiful and far smaller, greener and less. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 14 - Tour of Coimbra and off to the Casino

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } We were up early the next day to catch the bus to Coimbra to tour the famous university and the local medieval fair. The university library was impressive, akin to Cistene chapel. We then wandered down to the fair which was nice with everyone dressed up and lots of music and dancing. Then the girls wanted to go shopping and Craig and Stuart from Brizo found a little cafe for a quiet beer. Stuart and Pat then had to pop off to pick up their neice and we carried on wandering about the shops. Unfortunately we thought the bus was leavign at 3:30pm but it actually left at 3 so when we turned up and no bus. No to worry there was a handy train station which had direct service to Figueira and we got a couple of tickets which left an hour later, so we could. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 19 - more motoring

Flat calm, no wind - engine has been on all day. Whilst not perhaps the  ideal finish to the ARC, at least it means we will be in for Saturday jazz  and should be nicely rested and showered as we have plenty of hot water now.  We currently have 140 miles to go (as at 14:15 UTC / 10:15 Local Time) and  are doing 7 kts so tomorrow morning looks likely. It looks like being a busy  finish as a number of boats in our division should be arriving within a few  hours of each other. You can tell we are getting close as the crew are starting to look at the  Carribean guides and talking about staying in a hotel.....maybe they are  subtely trying to tell us something! I must admit that some of the  restaurants are looking very good. Boat-wise things are. read more...

Glass Slipper - 9 Dec 2011

Friday, 9 Dec 2011 Well today is another beautiful day in paradise – as we get closer to the Caribbean both the temperature and humidity continue to rise. Today is our first mates (Ben) 27th birthday. I know we have a cake for him – and Tarryn will be making one of his favorite Italian dishes. Yesterday’s noon meal was good old fashioned (American) hamburgers – both Tom and I agreed you forget very quickly how much you miss them.  We started the day yesterday with some great winds, and later they dropped, so of course – out came the kite. That really got Glass Slipper moving through the surf. When we went online to check the daily weather reports, and see if we had any personal e-mails we were surprised to see the number of boats turning on their. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 13 - Surfs up Povoa to Figueira

Light winds forecast and quite concerned about over use of the motor. Our predicted time of arrival was 1am. Again we got a good start and looked like the winds were ok however as we rounded the cardinal and more downwind everyone zoomed past and into the distance. So we decided to motor for an hour and see how it went, which seemed to go ok so we motored another couple of hours until the wind picked up. Then we stayed on a reach out to sea but fast before heading back in towards Figueira, surfing down waves now with Pam hanging on for dear life and Craig with a grin ear to ear. Got in just before 9pm to a big cheer from the team having dinner at the restaurant.. read more...

Endo 2 - 20. Seetag

Nun, wir sind immer noch unterwegs, sind dem Ziel aber schön wieder etwas näher gekommen. Eigentlich liegen wir noch gut in userem Zeitplan, denn wir haben mit 22 Tagen gerechnet - und das sollten wir schaffen. Nach unserem Fischfang gestern haben wir noch einen Passagier Zuflucht gewährt. Eine kleine Schwalbe ist seit gestern nachmittag mit an Bord. Wir hoffen, dass sie die Fahrt bis zur Insel übersteht. So richtig menschenscheu ist sie nicht, denn sie hat bei Udo auf dem Bein gesessen und auch bei Olaf in die Pfanne geschaut. Leider hat sie unser Wasserangebot noch nicht angenommen. Es wird also nie langweilig an Bord. Ebenfalls gestern haben wir wieder Delphine springen gesehen - allerdings etwas weiter entfernt.So, nun wird es zu heiss, die Kabinentemperatur liegt. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 11 - Porto port

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Day trip into Porto, a city we have enjoyed previously. Did the tour at Taylors port house on the south side of the river then over to the cafes on the sunny north for lunch. Wandered about the back alleys with Jono and Chris off Maui before catching the bus back. Did a bit of shopping on the way back and went up the internet cafe to check the emails. Quiet night.. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 10 - Bayona to Povoa

Good start to this leg Avalon and Brizo were first over the line and we had no wind so cut behind them then sailed on over the top. It was fairly down wind the whole way to Povoa which we found difficult to sail in with the main flogging and danger of unexpected Gybe with no preventer. So we ended up reaching back and forward all the way, but still came in fifth overall after sailing alot of miles. Managed to motor in ok but alarms were going and still concenred about the motor. We were straight up for the prize giving at the yacht club where we won the prize for closest estimated time (17:30, and we came in at 17:35). It was a great night with an excellent live jazz band that we stayed to the end for.. read more...

Matilda - To motor or not to motor?

Well, it seems we are pretty much the only boat in our area not under motor; call us stubborn.We had a nice afternoon yesterday close hauled and zipping along very nicely.Unfortunately all that ended at about midnight and we've been bobbing about ever since.We hauled the big old spinnaker out this morning for the first time (never used it before now) but there is not enough wind to fill even that. Morale at the prospect of waiting for wind to arrive, possibly 2 days away, is mixed.I think we will probably pull the plug and join the motoring set later today, once the foot of our spinnaker has dried out on deck. We are about to dive in for another swim, as I can see by the speed log beside the nav station that our speed through the water is now 0.00 knots. We have about 330 miles to go, so. read more...

Spindrift of Jersey - ARC Log - Day 20

14:54.48N 56:30.17W. 265 nautical miles to go. We have motored in almost no wind all yesterday, all night (except for a  valiant attempt that resulted in sailing at about 3-4 knots for 3 hours  until the wind died again) and so far today. On the radio report at midday all the other boats that are about 100 miles  in front and 100 miles astern were reporting 5 knots of wind or less. For  Spindrift that qualifies as 'no wind'. The fuel situation looks OK but it will be very close if we can't sail at  all. At this rate we will arrive on Sunday morning/lunchtime. It is a surreal feeling to be out in the Atlantic when it is totally  windless. We stopped the motor yesterday in order to check the oil level and the boat  just gradually stops and sits in a. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 9 - Bayona - Sail overboard

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Got busy rewiring the chart plotter and AIS with new waterproof plugs we bought in Plymouth. Also hauled the windsurfer and sail back out on deck to give us more space below, but stupidly forgot to tie on, which was ok in the morning when there was no wind. By the afternoon the wind had picked up a lot and there was a thump on deck when the wind surfer almost blew off and unfortunately the sail had, probably much earlier. We dragged with the anchor to try and hook it, but couldn’t even tell where it was, gutted. We virtually wrote it off when Allan from Jallano kindy offered to put on his dive gear and have a look. The next morning before sailing Allan managed to find it virtually straight underneath the boat, once again we are very grateful. read more...

Berserker 2 - Day 8 - Bayona - Chill out

Bit of a quiet day, time to relax a bit. Brizo kindly offered to do our washing for us and we both got tours of the luxury on board, must have been hell watching movies on the big screen during that Biscay crossing!. We had a marine engineer look at the motor and he changed the oil, which he said looked like chocolate, full of sediment which didnt sound good. Did a bit of re-organising and found something to wear ready for prize giving. Nice prize giving night in the lovely surroundings of the yacht club and Berserker even got a fun prize cake from Santiago De Compostella (because we missed the tour) very tasty too.  . read more...

Happy Cat - Beach party weather

The universe has conspired once again to provide the ideal conditions for a beach party, warm sunny and no wind, which would be great if we were near a beach and not on "Happy Cat" with 175 miles to go. So here we are motoring in a lazy sea for the second day. On my night watches I have been thinking about Chris Columbus and his journey across the Atlantic, story goes after many days at sea, he woke up like me this morning, had a bowl of cereal and fruit , checked his Raymarine and muttered to himself ..."Must be close to the edge soon".. (or something like that) But one day he did wake up and did see land and the world changed forever. One more thing...Mr. C had it good, these trade vwinds are amazing, blowing constantly for weeks on end, he. read more...

Kantara - Fw: Swmming in water over 2 miles deep

  ----- Original Message ----- From: KantaraTo: Kantara Diary EntryCc: kantara Arc blogSent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 8:08 PM Subject: Swmming in water over 2 miles deepToday has been very relaxed , The wind disappeared about 6pm last night and so we were under engine from then until about 2pm today . Although the engine is noisy the constant hum is very soporific and makes a pleasant change from the banging and clattering of shackles and sails. We all slept well I was woken at 4AM instead of my normal 2AM which was nice! The crew spent all morning laying around on deck reading and listening to music , the sea was dead flat and a thin layer of cloud kept the sun to a pleasant glow instead of its normal furnace . We are now sailing along at 6 knots in a light breeze.. read more...

Psyche blog: Oeiras

We're getting to that losing track of exactly what day and date it is state of mind, and I'm not sure quite where the blog was last posted from - Figueira I think, where Andy left us. Next on we had 2 short sails, a 30 mile downwind leg (they're all downwind in light N/E's in the morning, picking up to 3-4 in the afternoon, usually means a couple of hours motoring after a couple of hours of "bang, bang, flap, flap" at 2-3 knots, then a decent run at 5-7 knots later on) to Nazare, followed the next day by a 20 mile leg to Peniche. At Nazare we were met by a charming couple, Mike and Sally. Mike was a short stocky chap with a white beard, who struts about his marina (where his ancient enormous barge/cum houseboat is berthed) a bit like a bantam in the farmyard, trotting backwards. read more...

Yemanja - Oeiras

Less than a week to go now............ We are currently in Oieras just outside Lisbon and on to Sines tomorrow. Caught a taxi into Lisbon last evening and found a good restaurant with FADO music; big women singers about Mick's size but not as pretty.... read more...

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